The Quest
by Mia-Teresa-Davenport
Summary: The Lab Rats embark on a quest to stop Douglas from making Mia into his perfect Bionic-Nephilim soldier. But with dangers lurking at every corner, will Adam, Mia and Chase be able to stop Douglas in time from making her into his soldier? Throw a very familiar face who wants to stop Douglas with his cost of his own life, and this is definitely going to get very interesting… / OOC&AU
1. Chapter 1

Hi. My name is Mia Comenzo. I am sixteen years old. My birthday is August 18, 1997. I have long honey blonde hair and sky blue eyes and tan skin, so I look like a female Californian surfer, or a model. I don't mind when people tell me I'm pretty, but people stand to close for comfort to me, and it's annoying. I have three best friends, and their names are Leo Dooley, Adam Davenport and Chase Davenport. I have a crush on Chase, I'll admit, but I don't think he knows.

I have bionic powers too, but mine are way more advanced. Nobody knows except them, Marcus, Douglas and Mr. and Mrs. Davenport.

I am also an angel. Well, technically, I'm half human, half angel, half bionic. Or, as Mr. Davenport calls me, a Bio-Nephilim. Nephilim means I'm half human, half angel, but I have bionics in me, too. This is dangerous for me, since bad bionics (or, as Leo likes to call them, BB), are looking for me and they plan to wipe my memory to turn me into one of them. I hope I don't get captured by one of them, or that would be really bad.

I have a lot of powers.

Chronokinesis - I can travel through time, in either direction, past or future, even when I'm sleeping. I can also take others with me, and just send others without going myself.

Dream Walking - I can appear in people's dreams, I usually use this to communicate, when I can't find the person I'm looking for, or want to talk privately.

Camouflage - I can blend in with my surroundings, and I can make other people camouflaged too.

Complete Memory - I remember everything from when I was born till now and forever, although I can choose if I want to forget something.

Changing Appearance - I can change my appearance if and whenever I want to. I can change my gender, my eye color, my hair color, my skin color, etcetera.

Mist - The Mist is a supernatural force that twists a mortal's sight from seeing supernatural occurrences (like my wings.) I can control the intensity of this ability.

Invulnerability - To date, the only things capable of killing me are Angel Blades, and Holy Fire. Thankfully, None of these exist anymore, so I cannot be killed.

Regeneration - If my body is damaged, I can heal instantly.

Sedation - I'm able to render humans unconscious with a touch, and I can make this a longer period state of unconsciousness if I will it to be.

Super Stamina - I never tire, and I do not require food, water, oxygen, or sleep to sustain myself, but I choose to whenever I want.

Automatic Heat Readjuster - My body temperature automatically readjusts to my climate, no matter where I am. I can control the intensity of this power.

Manipulating Words - I can think any word at anything or anyone and they will do whatever word I directed, like freezing in place or being unable to speak.

Super Strength - I can lift anything with ease.

Supernatural Perception - I am able to see all activity around me. I can also sense any location, being, or object. I use this when I want to.

Enhanced Reflexes - I have enhanced reflexes. For example, I can dodge a bullet easily.

Telekinesis - I am able to telekinetically move beings and objects with my mind, no matter how far away it is.

Withdrawing - I can stop someone from getting hurt or seriously injured by withdrawing the energy and the force around them, moving it, and placing the damage directly on me. However, I get three times the pain and damage that was meant for someone else, so I could faint or momentarily die from the amount of pain.

Telepathy - I can read the minds of other people with no difficulty. I, being the only Nephilim in the universe as of now, can also read humans minds. I can also send messages to humans with ease. I can also get information about the person I am speaking with, like weight, hair color, eye color, etcetera.

Heat Vision - I have heat vision. My eyes turn an icy blue color, and my lasers are the same color as my eyes are when they heat up. They look like blue fire.

Invisible Vapors - I display the ability to send off powerful waves of vapors that can do anything to anyone, like a vapor that can render people unconscious. I have all of the elements, and can do a lot more than set people on fire, etcetera. Also, I can control the intensity of this ability.

Molecular Density - I can change my molecular density, enabling me to walk through walls, stop a car with my body, or withstand the greatest of impacts.

Teleportation - I am able to travel from one place to another, instantly, without occupying the space in between. I can also summon or send other beings.

Voice Mimicry - I can perfectly mimic the voice of mortals or other animals, even if I have not heard that exact sound before.

Persuasion (Charmspeak) - I can talk anyone or anything to do say or do anything, and nobody can break free from this.

Terrifying Wings - My angel wings can strike fear into anything on the earth and beyond. I only do this unless it's absolutely necessary. For example: If anyone close to me was hurt and there was someone/something about to kill them, I'd expand my wings and they'd back off. It also helps to use Charmspeak.

Pyrokinesis - I have ability to burn through anything, no matter what.

Elemental Heat Vision - I have the ability to have fire, earth, water, and lightning heat visions that I can use whenever I want to.

Lying/Truth Senses - I can tell if someone is lying or telling the truth by looking at their body language, looking directly into their eyes, their tone of voice, or the energy waves around them.

Invisibility - I can become invisible to humans and my race if I choose to be. I can also make others invisible too.

Healing - I can cause the wounds, diseases, and toxins of another being to heal instantaneously. I can heal anything and everything. This can be used in a wide area.

Siren Singing - When I sing, I can make people fall asleep, go into trances with their eyes glazed over, and make people relax. And, I can do many other things with it too, like make people go deaf. I use this when I need to.

Multicolored Eyes - My eyes change color a lot, any shade of any color imaginable, even the colors that aren't normal for eye colors, like purple and red and orange and and black and white and yellow. I can change what shade of color my eyes can be, like sunset orange or neon pink or bright grass green. This is not a physical ability; although, it does make people edgy and nervous, like my wings do. This can also be triggered in my current state of emotions; like sadness, nervousness, anger, boredom, etcetera, or whenever I feel threatened.

Super Speed - I am able to run from one place to another in a matter of milliseconds, no how far away it is.

Force Field - I have a force field that is invisible, and I can activate it at any time. Nothing can shatter the force field.

Multicolored Sparks - I produce sparks of any color that can be triggered in my current state of emotions; like sadness, nervousness, anger, boredom, etcetera, or whenever I feel threatened. This can be used to hurt people and animals if I choose too.

Deadly Accuracy - Whatever I throw or shoot, it hits a surface with perfect accuracy, no matter where I am or how far away I am. It also helps to use my super speed and teleportation.

Cancel Gravity - I can cancel gravity in a large area, making everything in the area around me float upwards, suspended in the air.

Mental Visions - I can send visions to people, telling them my exact location by just thinking the person's name, and thinking of the exact location of where I'm at.

Advanced Senses - I have advanced smell, hearing and sight, a lot more advanced than the average human being.

Memory Manipulation - I am able to erase, restore, alter, and fabricate memories in the minds of humans.

Sonic Scream - I am able to scream very loudly, which can make glass shatter easily and hurt people's ears, and I can cause deafness if choose too. I can direct this at a group of people, and I can choose if I want them to go deaf or not. I can control the intensity of this ability.

Speed Talking - I can talk very fast. I can say all of the words that exist in any language in under eight seconds.

Speed Typing - I can type at rapid speeds, and I can type all of the words that exist in ten seconds.

Wall Sticking - I can stick to walls and ceilings, and I'm not affected by gravity.

Super Agility - I can rapidly respond to change by adapting its initial stable configuration.

Super Durability - I can withstand significantly more punishment than normal humans. Lasers that can kill normal people and cut them in half only touch me, causing my skin to heat up a fraction of a degree, but it doesn't hurt.

Advanced Pyrokinesis - I can generate and manipulate fire. I can get rid of fire instantly, or create it by thinking the word.

Reality Warping - I can bend reality to my will. For example one thing I can do is break and repair objects by pointing or snapping my fingers or even with my mind.

White Light - I'm able to use a power that can kill or injure everything. I can shoot white lasers out of my eyes as well. I can also control the intensity of this power.

Cryokinesis - I have the ability to freeze anything with my breath or with my mind.

Electrokinesis - I can produce powerful arcs of electricity. I can also manipulate electronic devises, like turning off computers with a wave of my hand or turning off communication sets if I choose to.

Molecular Combustion - I can make something explode by willing it.

Shapeshifting - I'm able to take multiple forms, including animals, or other humans, for example.

Weather Manipulation - I'm able to generate powerful storms, and I can choose how powerful and how long they can be.

Terrakinesis - I'm able to create severe earthquakes simply by willing it.

Nigh-Omnipotence - I can change reality, being able to do and create things out of thin air such as illusions, fantasies, portals, beings, etc.

Advanced Super Hearing - I can hear anything, no matter how far away it is.

Visions - I am able to see something before it happens, either in the future or a minute before it happens.

Advanced Element Control - I am able to control the sky, the water, the earth, and fire easily with no problem, no matter where I am in the world. I can also control the strength of each element.

Commando App - I have an alter ego. Crystal (my angelic side,) will make an appearance when my friends are in danger or if I get mad. Crystal is an arrogant, cocky, fearless soldier. She threatens or hurts anyone that makes me/her angry or upset. She is incredibly aggressive, rude, and violent. She will destroy anything that threatens or upsets me. She seems to lack much of my intellect, preferring to use violence and force to solve her problems. She also has a somewhat sadistic and mean sense of humor. She still possesses several of my traits, such as my leadership. Crystal possesses all of my powers and skills, but lacks my compassion, fear and sense of decency.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi. My name is Mia Comenzo. I am sixteen years old. My birthday is August 18, 1997. I have long honey blonde hair and sky blue eyes and tan skin, so I look like a female Californian surfer, or a model. I don't mind when people tell me I'm pretty, but people stand to close for comfort to me, and it's annoying. I have three best friends, and their names are Leo Dooley, Adam Davenport and Chase Davenport. I have a crush on Chase, I'll admit, but I don't think he knows.

I have bionic powers too, but mine are way more advanced. Nobody knows except them, Marcus, Douglas and Mr. and Mrs. Davenport.

Marcus, who is an android, is a literal robot with humanoid characteristics. We all hate him. Enough said. Marcus has a new ability, it's called charmspeak. Basically, he can use it to his advantage to make someone do or say whatever he wants them to do. Thankfully, I know how to block his charmspeak now, but he keeps trying to make me fall under the spell. It works sometimes, and it can range from short periods of time to long periods of time. I honestly think Chase gets jealous, and Adam gets protective of me whenever I get bullied by Marcus, (which is a lot), so he's like my older brother. Leo is like my little brother, and even though he doesn't have any bionic abilities, he says go away to Marcus, and sometimes he backs off, but not all the time. Major emphasis on 'sometimes.'

Uncle Douglas Davenport is a egotistical sociopath and is a major psychopath, one of the World's Most Wanted. He tries to kill me. It's almost worked, and we've had some pretty close calls. Some of them almost did kill me.

"Come on, Mia. Lets go get some hot chocolate. It's cold outside because it's in the middle of winter and hot chocolate is the best cure for a cold heart." Leo says, and I nod, fire spreading across my palm, and water running up and down my arm. I press my hand to my arm and it creates superheated steam.

I am also an angel. Well, technically, I'm half human, half angel, half bionic. Or, as Mr. Davenport calls me, a Bio-Nephilim. Nephilim means I'm half human, half angel, but I have bionics in me, too. This is dangerous for me, since bad bionics (or, as Leo likes to call them, BB), are looking for me and they plan to wipe my memory to turn me into one of them. I hope I don't get captured by one of them, or that would be really bad.

"Sure. Let's go. I love hot chocolate." I say, looking over at Adam. "Come on, Adam. Want a lift?" Adam nods, his face lighting up like a kid on Christmas morning.

I laugh, and grab my friends hands, and we're at the hot chocolate shop not to far from our house. Snow lightly falls from the sky, peppering my hair with the cold white flakes.

We get the hot chocolate and walk out with extra large styrofoam cups in our hands.

Once we get out of the dead empty shop, I immediately see Marcus.

This is a joyous occasion. And I meant to be sarcastic.

"Hi Mia." He greets, and I make a pained noise in the back of my throat when his charmspeak washes over me.

Usually, I can break through this, stop him; but Marcus can make how strong his charmspeak is just by the tone of his voice. Right now, it's at its maximum.

"H-Hi…Marcus." I lock eyes with Adam, screaming for help, but his eyes look glazed over, or maybe he's not paying attention, like he always is. It's the same thing with Leo. Strange thing is, only Chase looks unaffected by it, which is weird. It usually works on him, or maybe Marcus didn't direct it at him. I don't know.

"Let my friends go." I say calmly, and Marcus laughs menacingly.

"Don't think so, sweetheart."

"Don't call her that." Chase snaps. Marcus turns to my best friend.

"I can call her whatever I want to. Why don't you come here, Mia? I need to tell you something."

My eyes widen as I see what he wants. He wants to kiss me, kill my friends, and then take me with him to Douglas's lab and use me for whatever they need to.

"No." I say, gritting my teeth.

"Yes." Marcus presses, smirking at me and strutting over here with his brown eyes that make me unsettled. I grit my teeth so hard I think their going to crack, and my body unwillingly walks next to him.

"I could use a Bio-Nephilim. Don't you think, Adam?"

Adam glares at him through glazed eyes, and mutters a lot of derogatory words that I don't want to repeat or I'll get grounded for multiple years by Tasha. I didn't even know that Adam knows all those words.

Marcus smirks at how weak he is right now, (which is ironic, because Adam is engineered to be the strongest human being on earth,) then he turns to me.

"Come on, Mia. We're leaving to go to the lab. Our lab."

"No." I breathe, eyes wide with fear.

"Now." He snaps, smacking me. I cry out in pain as white dots swirl around my field of vision.

"Mia!" My friends cry out, then Leo and Adam fall silent. "Mia!" Chase yells as the slap mark heals, but tears drip down from my eyes.

"Help me…" I whisper weakly, shuddering as Marcus's hands snake down my face and he kisses me, his hands digging into my shoulders softly, grazing the skin as if he were planting something somewhere.

My eyes widen as his lips press onto mine, and a fireball the size of a peach blazes across Marcus's skin, then a chuck of cement smashes into his skull from the dirt. Marcus yells in pain, and, finally free from his charmspeak, I throw an ice dagger at him, and he shudders from the cold and passes out.

I wipe my mouth with my arm and glare at his passed out figure.

"You okay?" Adam asks, walking up to me.

"No…I think he did something to me. He…" My vision doubles suddenly, and I shut my eyes, blood coming out of my nose. I touch the blood, and my eyes widen. I scream, shattering the windows in the shop.

"M-Marcus poisoned me." I whisper, and half human part of my body shuts down, and everything goes black.

* * *

><p><strong>*Chase's POV*<strong>

Adam's eyes widen, and he runs up to catch her.

Even though my brother is a bit slow, nobody threatens or hurts Mia unless they want to get a brick or any other type of weapon/projectile thrown at them, hurled at three hundred (or a lot faster if he chooses to,) miles per hour, but that's not important right now. I could go into a description on how it all works, but I'm not going to.

Adam catches my best friend, who eyes reopen them a few minutes later that seems like hours.

"Mia…" Leo breathes. "You're okay!"

"What?" She asks, her blue eyes confused.

"Marcus knocked you out." Adam says.

"Oh." Then she frowns. "Um, Adam, Leo? I have a question. Whose that?" She points to me, confusion clear on her face.

We all freeze.

"We need to get her to the house." Adam says, looking down at Mia with such loving eyes, something I rarely see. Wow. Adam is really caring for Mia. He always has been, even when we were little.

"Mia, can you fly us out of here?"

"Okay." She mutters. "I'd like to go away now."

I agree.

She snaps her fingers, and we appear in the living room of the house.

"Mr and Mrs. Davenport…" She mutters.

"What's wrong?" Tasha asks, walking up to us.

"Mrs. Davenport, Mia has lost her memory." I say.

"She what?" Mr. Davenport demands. "Who did this to her?"

"Marcus." Adam replies, not letting go of Mia's hand, the same loving eyes.

I feel jealously burn in my stomach, expanding outward and leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. We're not related, but people who didn't know us would immediately think that.

"I don't know who that is, Mr. Davenport." She points to me.

"I'm Chase." I say patiently.

"I dunno any Chase." Then she turns to my brother. "Adam, can I eat? My human half is responding and healing nicely from the poison that Marcus injected into me, but I want to learn more about him." She points to me, and I resist the urge to yell at her that she knows me. But if I do that, Mia might remember way too quickly, and that could be bad.

"Leo, this could be painful and frustrating for you. I want you to go to your room." Leo sighs and mutters naturally under his breath.

"Okay. Chase, go downstairs, I don't think if you are here, she'll remember faster." Mr. Davenport looks at me apologetically.

Dejectedly, I walk downstairs to the lab and sit in my capsule and eat an apple I grabbed from the kitchen table.

How does Mia remember Adam, Leo, Mr and Mrs. Davenport, but not me? It doesn't make any sense.

"…So Chase is my….friend?" I hear Mia ask with my bionic hearing. "Yes." Mr. Davenport says.

"Adam is like my older brother."

"I am like your older brother." Adam confirms. "We look after each other." Adam sounds so sad it nearly breaks my heart.

"Always?" She asks.

"24/7." Tasha says.

"But the boy…Chase." Mia hesitates at my name. "Is he a good friend?"

"Yep."

"So he's bionic, like Adam?"

"Yes. He's super smart. We used to call him smartypants." Adam laughs, and Mia giggles softly, then I can literally see her face turn serious.

"Does he like me? I sense that about him."

I can feel my cheeks heat up as I bury my face in my hands, the blush spreading to my neck.

The atmosphere turns uncomfortable.

"That…we don't know. Bionic teenage boys are strange." Mr. Davenport says, "Um, no offense Adam."

"Oh, none taken." He says in his usual happy tone of voice.

Mr. Davenport continues. "Chase's brain is hardwired to be the smartest man in the world, but he's clueless when it comes to love."

I roll my eyes, but don't deny it. It's true.

"Can I go downstairs the lab? Maybe if I go down there, I'll remember more things." I gulp, and smooth my hair down, trying to make myself presentable.

Mia walks out of the elevator, stopping when she sees me.

"Um, Chase, is it?" She asks, walking over to me carefully.

"Yes."

Mia eyes me suspiciously. "Your not gonna hurt me, are you?"

"I'd never hurt you." I say truthfully.

Mia smiles slightly, then the smile turns to a suspicious frown. "I know you wouldn't." She whispers. I can literally hear my family hold their breath.

All the sudden, I can feel something wrong with me. My eyes widen as I can feel my face form into a creepy smile, and a million bad thoughts cross my mind. Rape, killing, agony, all thoughts directed to Mia. And it's not me. I would never think those things.

It's Spike.

But that's impossible. He…Mr. Davenport deactivated him!

"Mia…get away from me." I say, groaning.

Her beautiful eyes go wide with panic, and she takes a step back, a dark blue bolt of lightning surrounding her as her body moves upwards, her feet two inches off the ground.

"What's wrong?" She asks warily, her eyes alert.

"Spike." I manage to gasp out, and I yell to my family, "SPIKE!"

The last thing I see is Mia's confused face, and everything goes black.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

Chase stands up, his posture rigid, and my lightning storm dissipates.

"Mia," He says with Chase's voice, "I…" Before even I can react, he runs up to me and smacks me so I fall to the ground.

I can hear my family cry out in alarm from all the way upstairs, but I hold up my hand to say don't come down here, it's too dangerous. I'll deal with this myself.

I stand up, looking straight into Chase's eyes, which have now gone cold and hard, nothing like we're used to seeing.

"Get up!" Spike yells.

"Stop…" I gasp weakly, a tear falling from my eye.

My instincts scream at me to fight, but I don't want to hurt him. Him meaning Chase. If Spike wasn't 'rooming' with Chase, I'd gladly freeze Spike to death or throw him into the sun.

"Shut up!" Spike roars. I stand up, wobbling slightly as I look into his eyes. "Spike. Stop."

Spike makes a pained noise in the back of his throat. "No."

I take a deep breath and graze my fingertips against Chase's cheek lovingly, my eyes soft.

"I know you are in there Chase. And I know you wouldn't hurt me. Not now, not ever." I whisper.

Spike groans, and I can see Chase fighting back, trying to get in control. His eyes flash from red to brown to red again.

"You'd never hurt me, right?" I ask, moving a strand of hair out of my face.

"Never." Chase/Spike whispers.

I bite my lip, wrapping my arms around his strong back, my wings stretching out. "I know."

Spike groans, and Chase's eyes turn brown again, and he smiles at me.

"Thanks, Mia. I think Spike's gone now." He says

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

A flash of guilt crosses his eyes, and he swallows. "Mia…you're bleeding."

"I am?" I ask.

I suddenly feel something warm, wet and sticky run down the back of my head. I touch it, and my hand magically turns red.

Horrification settles in Chase's eyes now. "I did this to you."

"Chase, no, you didn't." I say softly.

"I did." He whispers, and Eddy, our annoying smart home system, pops up on the screen.

"Drama!" He says in a dramatic voice, and I roll my eyes.

I snap my fingers, and Eddy shuts down.

Being a bionic superhuman rocks.

'Guys, I need you to go away, maybe outside or something, please. Chase and I need to talk privately, and you can hear us.'

Muttering to themselves, my family walks away, to give us privacy to talk to each other, and so we're not interrupted. I'll say it again, I'm not their daughter or sister, but we're best friends.

My parents died in a fire when I was little, but I erased that part from my mind. I don't like to talk about it. They may be gone, but the memories will always be there. I erased that part of my life from my mind, but the scars will always be there. The Davenport's took me in, and I'm grateful for them. Without them, I'd probably be dead.

"No, Chase, you didn't." I say, shutting my eyes.

"I'm sorry." He whispers.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Chase." I say. He sighs, shutting his eyes.

The blood clears from my fingers and head, and my vision isn't tinged with red anymore.

"See? I'm fine."

"But I-"

I cut him off. "I'm fine, Chase. You did not hurt me." I say reassuring him, and he looks down miserably.

"I'm a monster." He whispers.

I look up at him sadly. "You are only a monster if you choose to be."

He stays silent. I try again. "Chase, Spike did this. I hope he's gone, so it can just be us."

I pull him into a hug, and he inhales deeply. "Stay with me?"

"Always." I say, my eyes sad, then the sadness clears from them. "Come on. We should go back up."

"No. I'm staying down here. I don't want to hurt Adam or you or Leo. I'm unpredictable. I might hurt you or him, or Leo, for that matter. I won't take that risk."

"Don't worry. You won't."

Chase's mental walls break. "Okay, I'll go upstairs."

"I…I'm tired." I whisper once I get up the stairs and entering into the kitchen.

Chase laughs, and I smirk at him. I grab a pillow and a blanket and immediately fall asleep, still holding onto Chase's hand.

I wake up, yawning. "Hi guys-"

The words die in my throat as I see my friend's dead, their eyes closed, their clothes ripped to shreds, their faces bloody and their bodies unmoving.

I let out a blood-curling scream as I spring up from the couch.

Chase is standing up with a bloody knife in his hand, looking gleefully as he sets the knife down onto the table.

"No!" I yell, tears streaming down my face.

"You did this to me, Mia." He whispers, looking over at me. "You made me who I am. I truly am a monster."

I wake up screaming.

"Mia…" Chase whispers, and my eyes snap open to reveal him crouching next to me, his eyes filled with worry. "Are you okay?"

I jump up, pulling the covers off of my body, and fly upstairs to Adam's room.

"Adam!" I whisper yell, and his eyes blink lazily open. "What, what's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You had a nightmare?" He asks, and I nod.

"Yeah." I explain what happens in the nightmare, and Adam encircles me in a hug, and I hug him back.

"Oh, it's okay, you're okay. We're okay. We won't let anything happen to you, especially Chase, because he cares about you. We all do."

I wipe away the last of my tears.

"O-Okay. You can go back to sleep now." I whisper, walking away and shutting his door.

I lean against the door, hearing him fall back asleep.

I walk downstairs and sit down on the floor, because Chase is on the couch, sleeping.

His eyes open, and he yawns. "Mia?" I nod from my spot on the floor, and Chase, wide awake now, sits up.

"Yeah," I say quietly, "It's me."

"Why are you on the floor?"

"Because I don't want to go back to sleep."

"I'll be there to protect you. Always."

His words bounce in my skull. I'll be there to protect you. Always. He really does care about me.

I crawl in next to him. "Goodnight," I say, shutting my eyes and falling asleep.

* * *

><p>"Chase?" I ask, my voice thick with sleep.<p>

"Hey." I hear him say from the kitchen, and I yawn.

"Good morning." I say, rubbing my eyes as I smell bacon and pancakes cooking, an aroma of chocolate chips accompanying it nicely.

"What are you making?"

"Pancakes and bacon with chocolate chips." He says, flipping a pancake, smirking at me cockily, but I let it pass.

"Alright. I'm gonna go get dressed." I say, yawning, sluggishly walking up the steps and into my bedroom.

I change into a comfortable outfit with uggs and a beanie before flying next to Adam. He looks over at me.

"Mia, you had a nightmare. I remember you came into my room and told me you had it, but you didn't tell me what it was about."

I shudder. "I…I saw you and Leo and Mrs. and Mr. Davenport die…And Chase was standing over them with a knife in his hand…" I wince.

Adam looks over at me and hugs me. "We're okay, Mia. We're a family. As long as we're still kicking, nothing bad is going to happen to any of us. Always."

I look up at Adam, smiling. "Thanks, Addie." He laughs at the childhood nickname.

"Adam, want to sing?" Chase asks, a glint in his eyes that I can't identify.

"Sure." Adam says, nodding, setting down his fork gently. "What song?"

"Think Twice, Eve Six." My eyes widen. There's going to be a hidden meaning behind this, I just know it.

**_"[Chase:]_**

**_When all is said and done_**

**_And dead does he love you_**

**_The way that I do_**

**_Breathing in lightning_**

**_Tonight's for fighting_**

**_I feel the hurt so physical_**

**_[Together:]_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around I'll let you feel the burn_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around come around no more_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around I'll let you feel the burn_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around no more_**

**_[Chase:]_**

**_She spreads her love_**

**_She burns me up_**

**_I can't let go_**

**_I can't get out_**

**_I've said enough_**

**_Enough by now_**

**_I can't let go_**

**_I can't get out_**

**_[Adam:]_**

**_Wait till the day you finally see_**

**_I've been here waiting patiently_**

**_Crossing my fingers and my t's_**

**_She cried on my shoulder begging please_**

**_[Together:]_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around I'll let you feel the burn_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around come around no more_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around I'll let you feel the burn_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around no more_**

**_[Adam:]_**

**_She spreads her love_**

**_She burns me up_**

**_I can't let go_**

**_I can't get out_**

**_I've said enough_**

**_Enough by now_**

**_I can't let go_**

**_I can't get out_**

**_[Chase:]_**

**_What is it you really want_**

**_I'm tired of asking_**

**_You're gone I'm wasted_**

**_When I showed up and he was there_**

**_I tried my best to grin and bear_**

**_And took the stairs but didn't stop at the street_**

**_And as we speak I'm going down_**

**_[Adam:]_**

**_Cause she spread her love_**

**_And burnt me up_**

**_I can't let go_**

**_I can't get out_**

**_I've said enough_**

**_Enough by now_**

**_I can't let go_**

**_I can't get out_**

**_[Together:]_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around I'll let you feel the burn_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around come around no more_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around I'll let you feel the burn_**

**_Think twice before you touch my girl_**

**_Come around no more."_**

The song ends and Adam and Chase glare at each other. I bite my lip, my eyes momentarily turning a forest green before back to sky blue. The atmosphere turns angry and awkward at the same time.

I frown, sensing that Adam will throw Chase across the room, and I can see Chase groan painfully.

"Adam," I say with charmspeak, "you will not."

The tense muscles in his body relax.

"Chase, put down the towel. Don't smack your brother with it." Chase sighs and looses his grip.

Adam's eyes turn red, signaling his heat vision is about to fire at Chase.

"Enough." I say in a commanding voice with charmspeak.

My friends relax, and the rage in Chase's eyes leave.

I grab both their shoulders and we're in the lab. I stare at them, and they glare at each other, and I cross my arms over my chest. "What was that?" I demand.

"Nothing." Adam says.

"That was a whole lot of glaring at each other and red hot rage for 'nothing'."

"Right." Chase mumbles, then looks over at me. "We both like you."

"Well, I can see that." I say calmly.

"We both do care about you." Chase says, and I nod at that. "I know you both do, and I truly am grateful for that. But I…But I can't deal with this right now. I…I'm sorry."

I leave and sit down on the couch, burying my face in my hands as a tornado of emotions swirl inside me.

* * *

><p><strong>*Adam's POV*<strong>

"Way to go Adam, you scared her off." Chase says moodily, and I stare at him in disbelief, my eyes wide.

"I scared her off? You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"Oh, I'm unbelievable? At least I'm smart!" Chase snaps.

"At least I'm strong!" I counter, my muscles tensing as if I were expecting a fight, which would probably happen, and even after all these years of calm, the Bionic-Brotherly-War's would start up again.

And we're both fighting over Mia.

This could get deadly in a minute.

"Brains are more superior than strength, Adam! Although, you shouldn't know that, because your stupid. A fishbowl is smarter than you!"

My eyes heat up and I can feel my heat vision shoot out red lasers at Chase, and he blocks it with his forcefield. I yell a battle cry, and tackle him.

The air leaves my brothers lungs as he falls to the ground with me on top of him. I pin his wrists with my hands, and glare down at him, and he tries to kick me in the back, but I pin his legs down with not even a quarter of my weight and strength, a white hot lump of anger forming in my throat, making it hard to breathe.

"Boys! Stop it!" I hear Mia yell, and Chase grunts, squirming and trying to get away.

"What is going on here?" She demands, and my grip loosens on Chase's arms, but becomes firmer, harder to break out of.

Mia walks over to me and places her warm hand on my shoulder. "Come here Adam." She says softly, prying my fingers from Chase's wrists and helping us up.

"Mr. Davenport!" She yells, and not a minute later he exits the elevator, walking over to us, his arms spread and his eyes wide with confusion and concern. "What happened?"

"They were fighting, and they looked like they wanted to kill each other. Carry Chase upstairs and I'll get Adam." She says gently, putting her arm around my shoulder to help me up the stairs.

"You okay, Adam?" She asks, and I lean against her, and I can literally feel two holes burning into my skull from Chase. (Of course, there are none. Just a figure of speech. If Chase had my heat vision, I'd be dead before I hit the ground.)

Think twice before you touch my girl. Come around I'll let you feel the burn. Now that I think about it, Chase and I love her, and we'll both stop at nothing to prove our worth to her. We both really do love her, but she doesn't want to deal with us right now, because she loves us both.

Great. It's a love triangle.

"Why were you guys fighting?" Davenport demands, and Chase and I glare at each other.

Mia sits down in between to us, and we both look over at her, completely mesmerized by her. Her eyes change different colors in the light. Red, orange and green, changing every time she blinks.

God, we're like lovesick puppies.

"Nothing. Bionic-Brotherly-Wars, father."

It's weird hearing Mia call Mr. Davenport father. She's not our sister, but it sure feels like it. We took her in with open arms after her parents died in that fire so many years ago. We immediately knew she was a half human half angel, a Nephilim, but we didn't care. We still love her all the same. Leo, too. Marcus wanted her because she's a Bio-Nephilim, but other than that, I don't know what Marcus wants with her. We haven't heard much from/about Douglas in a few months, but whatever this silence is, this hiatus is, it's something bad, I know that much. Like calm before a storm.

The only thing we can do now is protect her the best we can and steer clear of Marcus, which we do anyway. That innocent act fooled us the first time, but it won't anymore. Leo tried to convince us that he was evil, but we ignored him. Mia had her suspicious, but she still treated Marcus with kindness. Even though she had her doubts about him, she still was nice to him, a friend to him. She does that to everyone, but now she's more guarded about who she can trust. She can trust us, of course, but I think it will take a little while for someone that isn't us to break that barrier down. Now that Marcus has tried to kill her, but failed and made her lose her memories as a make up, Mia won't hesitate to kill him. We'll help too, of course. We won't let her down. After all, family watches out for each other.

Whoa, okay. I've been thinking way too much. I'm spending way too much time with my brother if I'm starting to think like this.

Mr. Davenport continues. "Well, can you tell me why the wars have started up again?"

Mia grips both our hands, and I bite my lip, not wanting to say anything.

"To see whose the strongest." Mia says, lying with charmspeak, "After all, it is only natural for teenage brothers to fight each other over something. Especially bionic teenage brothers."

Mr. Davenport nods, his eyes glazed over. "Yeah. Okay."

Mia breathes a sigh of relief when he leaves.

Almost immediately, Chase and I start fighting each other, until Mia steps in.

"Stop!" She yelps, fire spreading on her hands and heating up our skin slightly, but not burning.

"What is going on with you two? I know you both like me, but Jesus!" She says, running a hand through her hair. "I'm going upstairs. Don't bother to follow me." She says, getting up and walking to her room.

"I'm getting hungry. Want to go get some food?" I ask, being very careful not to set him off again. To my relief, he nods.

"Sure, Adam. We can go. Leo and Mr. Davenport are out right now. I don't think they'll mind if we go out to get something."

I yell to Mia if she wants to come with us, but she says no thanks.

"C'mon." Chase says, grabbing his jacket, "let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

**Mia's POV**

I let my head drop against my pillow as I sigh, shutting my eyes as I feel peaceful for the first time in a while.

Randomly, a large smash shatters my window, making me jump. The projectile was a rock, and I hide under my bed, not bothering to breathe. Not like I need to anyway. My angel side sustains me, so I don't have to worry about passing out from lack of oxygen.

Someone's here to kidnap me.

I hear tables being flipped, things being thrown across the room, and everything like that. I try to make myself invisible, but my powers don't work, which is strange.

Something's about to happen.

I'm able to fly downstairs, and hide under the couch.

The masked person clambers down the stairs, and he flips and shatters everything, trying to find me.

"I see you." He says in a gravelly voice, and my eyes grow wide as I'm dragged by the legs and I look up at my attacker in horror.

I try to smite him, but my powers won't work. I feel like a normal human being.

My attacker grins down at me, and something hard, smooth and metal whips against my skull.

I black out immediately.

* * *

><p>*<strong>Chase's POV<strong>*

I lock the car and put the keys in my pocket before zipping it up and patting my pocket.

I open the door to the house and everything in the living room and in the kitchen is turned up and smashed, as if someone was here, looking for something.

"Mia?" Adam calls.

No answer.

I exchange a look with my brother before stepping over broken glass and running upstairs to Mia's room.

I knock on her door. "Mia?"

Silence greets us.

I turn the doorknob, and our eyes grow wide at the sight before us.

Everything, like downstairs, is ripped out of its usual place, and messed up, except for the bed.

"Mia?" I yell, whipping out my phone and calling Mr. Davenport, who answers on the second ring.

"Chase, what's wrong?"

"M-Mia's been kidnapped." I manage to stutter out, my voice heavy.

"We're coming home immediately." He hangs up, and I run a hand through my hair.

Adam places a hand on my shoulder, his eyes soft. "We'll find her, Chase. We have to."

It's weird, having Adam comfort me. We usually fight and bicker, even more than the average human brothers.

"We have to." I agree sadly, shutting my eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

I don't know where I am. I've been dragged, carried, and set down every which way with a blindfold over my eyes, bound and gagged like a wild animal.

My wings are damaged from the glass, and they are healing, but not fast enough.

I'm scared. I just want to go home.

The door opens, and lightning flickers on my palms in defense.

"Hey, Mia." The figure steps forward into the light, to reveal the one and only Marcus freaking Davenport.

I glare at him. "What do you want, Marcus?"

"I want you to be with me forever."

Well, that was cheesy.

"How about no?" I ask, a small grin ghosting across my lips.

"Alright, fine." He drags me by the arm to another room with no windows and just one door, and a dentist-like-chair in the middle of the room, and a knife sits on a stainless-steel tray on a portable tray.

My eyes widen as I know what this means.

"Now, I'm going to brainwash you. You won't remember your little friends. You'll be with me forever." Marcus says, grinning.

I throw a water ball at him, and it smacks him in the face, water bloating his cheeks as he's forced to swallow the salt water. He spits the salty froth up, and he wipes the water away from his face. He chuckles and shoves me into the chair, and I blast fire at him, catching his shirt on fire. He yelps, and puts it out with a glass of water.

Marcus smiles creepily at me. "Let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

I feel anger bubble in my blood, and I feel Spike coming on.

"Chase, stop." Adam says before I can actually do anything, and I calm down, my chest heaving and my fists clenched deadly white as Adam shuts his eyes to prevent tears from spilling over.

I hear my family come back, and Mr. Davenport sits down on the now-not-overturned-couch, taking in the destruction.

Eddy pops up on the screen. He looks gravely at them, as much as you can get for a smart home security system.

"I have footage of Mia's kidnapper and of her being kidnapped." He doesn't even make a snide comment.

The video pops up on the screen. Mia's in her room, her eyes shut and she looks kind of peaceful.

A rock smashes through her window, and she crawls under the bed, shutting her eyes and sitting very still so she doesn't get seen.

A man crawls into her room, completely dressed in black, a white mask over his face so we can't see what he looks like.

The man drags her from under the couch, hits her with a crowbar, and she goes limp. The video cuts off, leaving a blank screen until Eddy pops up.

"That's all I have. You have to find her." Then his voice changes to automatic, something that Davenport installed a month or two ago.

"Incoming call." He says, and the one and only Marcus Davenport sits in a black leather chair, grinning smugly at us.

"Hello, friends. I heard Mia's been…captured." He smirks at us, and my face grows red with anger.

"What do you want, Marcus?" I snarl, and Adam's eyes flash red.

"I have someone very important to you here."

Mr. Davenport takes the hint. "Leo…Go away. Now." Davenport says, and Leo doesn't protest. He makes himself a sandwich, being careful not to look over at Eddy's screen.

I turn my attention back to the screen and we all gasp.

Mia's strapped to a table, looking very, very dead. A bloodied knife sits on a table next to her, a small amount of blood running down her arm.

"Chase…" she breathes my name out, coughing weakly three times, the blood healing, turing into a small scar, before disappearing from her skin completely, like it never existed.

"Chase…Adam…Leo…Mom…Dad…"

Mia sits up suddenly, blinking lazily, as if she were in a dream. She looks over at Marcus and smiles. Actually smiles.

"Hi, Marcus. Did you kill Adam and Chase yet?" She stretches, hopping off of the table and walking over to him, wrapping her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Not yet, but we're saying hello. Say hi, Mia."

Mia turns to us, her blue eyes dull. "Hello. Friends." She spits out the word friends like it physically hurts her, then looks over at Marcus. "So, where are we going now?"

Marcus turns to her, smirking at us. "How about upstairs?" Marcus asks, and Mia nods. "Okay. Maybe Douglas can make us a sandwich. I happen to like sandwiches."

She turns to the camera, and her eyes turn momentarily red, sparks flickering across her eyes.

"Mr. and Mrs. Davenport. Leave." She says with her charmspeak, and Tasha and Davenport leave, their eyes glazed over.

"Who do you love?" Marcus asks, and Mia smiles widely.

"You."

My eyes grow wide. "What-"

"Oh, I forgot to mention, in addition to erasing her memories then replacing them with evil ones," he's grinning evilly now, "I made her fall in love with me."

I can literally feel my heart break, and I glare at Marcus. "Why are you doing this?"

"Simple. Emotional trauma."

"You are so dead!" Adam snarls, and Mia rolls her eyes and intertwines her fingers with Marcus's.

"Aww, pretty boys mad?" She taunts in baby talk, tucking a piece of honey blonde hair behind her ear, smiling at us with those perfect teeth.

I can't get mad, I can't get mad. I can't get mad.

"Oh, I have a present." Marcus smirks, and kisses her forehead, then her lips.

Okay, now I'm mad, but I can't let it show. It takes all my willpower not to punch someone in the gut or scream.

"Goodbye."

The screen goes black, and I yell in anger.

My molecularkinesis glitches, and I accidentally throw a perfectly good plate across the room and it whooshes in a light huff of air to the wall, smashing into a million pieces, the shards skipping everywhere and littering the floor.

"What happened?" Leo asks, frowning and looking over at Eddy.

"I can't say. Daddy'll get mad at me and shut me off."

Leo sighs. "How are we going to get her back?"

"Simple. You're not, I am." I say, and Leo starts to protest, but Davenport cuts him off.

"It's too dangerous for you, Leo. Tasha and Adam and I will stay here with you."

Adam nods in agreement. "I'll make sure nothing happens to my baby bro."

Leo sighs, his shoulder slumping down and eating a cookie. I swear, he can eat anything.

"Okay, just tell us when Mia's safe!"

I nod gratefully at them, I sprint to Marcus's house.

* * *

><p>I slowly open the door to the lab, and I slip the lockpick into my pocket. I walk for a few seconds, wary of anything that could pop up out me. Like Marcus, for instance.<p>

Mia sits in a chair, her back turned to me. She sits in the black chair, and the only signs of life I can see in her is her small breaths, inhaling and exhaling softly, her body moving in the way that humans, well, breathe.

"Hello, Chase. It's nice to see you again." She turns, her face and eyes completely blank of any emotion.

"Why are you here?" She asks, and on impulse, I run over to her, and Mia's eyes flash green in warning. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I ignore her.

Just as I'm about to reach her, something smooth, ice cold, and glassy hits my shoulder, and I fall back in surprise, falling on my back as I groan in surprise. An invisible force field protects her, and, concentrating really hard, I push my whole arm through, trying to reach her, to pull her to me.

"I'm here to rescue you." I say.

Mia reaches her hand out, and our fingertips almost touch, painfully, torturously close. She sighs and drops her hand onto her lap.

"Marcus is coming." She says in the same dead voice.

Not a minute later does Marcus come into the room. He freezes when he me, his eyes wide. Then his lips twist up in a smirk.

"Mia…hide. Now. He's trying to kidnap you."

Mia hesitates. "He is? Chase said he was here to rescue me. Did you…Did you lie to me?"

"He's lying." He says, then he smirks at me. "Hello, Chase. Mia's mine. You can't stop me."

Anger pumps through my blood.

"Destroy him." He says, and Mia looks at me apologetically, her face as hard as granite. "I'm sorry. I have to do this."

She yells, and a blue bolt of lightning crashes next to me, making the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand up.

I jump back, my eyes wide. "Stop it, Mia!" I yell, trying to reason with her, to get her out of this state.

Her eyes grow blank. She throws me across the room, and I land on my back, groaning painfully. Mia runs up with super speed, looming over me.

A lightning bolt the size of a dinner plate appears in her hand. "I'm sorry, Chase. I have to."

I can do the only logical thing. I stall.

"Mia, before you kill me…I have something to say."

"What is it?" She asks, and I sit up, resting my weight on my elbows, groaning painfully.

"I…I love you, Mia."

Her eyes grow wide. "You love me?" I nod, staring directly into her beautiful blue eyes.

"I do. No matter what has happened. No matter what you've done. No matter what you will do. I will always love you. I swear it. I want to tell you that wherever I am, whatever happens, I'll always think of you, and the time we spent together, as my happiest time. I'd do it all over again, if I had the choice. No regrets. You are my best friend, my shoulder to lean on, the one person I know I can count on, you're the love of my life, you're my one and only, you're my everything. I love you Mia, I love you!"

Her eyes to back to normal, no longer blank.

"Chase…" She collapses.

I jump up with inhuman speed and catch her, glaring at Marcus. "This isn't over." I snap, and I run away with Mia in my arms.

"Chase…Hospital. Don't feel good." She holds her stomach, shutting her eyes. She reopens them as I'm running to the house, ready to scream for help and for them to drive both of us to the hospital to figure out exactly what's wrong with her.

She says four words that almost make my heart stop, which would be bad. "Chase…M-Marcus raped m-me."

And then she goes limp in my arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

The next time I awake, the sounds of a heart monitor fill my ears, and an IV is hooked up to my arm, dripping fluids steadily. I can see Chase, Adam and the Davenports sit in some blue plastic chairs that don't look too comfortable.

I groan. "Where…"

"Mia!" Chase says, taking my hand, and I blink, yawning. "How long have I been out?"

"Five and a half hours. Do you remember…" Adam starts to say, but shuts up immediately, and I frown.

"What-"

The memories come slamming back to me like someone just slammed on the brakes or someone smashed a brick in my face. I start sobbing into the pillow, and through my tears, I can see the Davenports and Adam leave, giving Chase and I some space.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay…"

"Y-You don't know that, Chase! You don't know that!" I say, a tear tracing down my cheek, but I don't bother to wipe it away. "I might be pregnant and I could be carry an android's baby!" I yell, and Chase crawls next to me, rubbing my back comfortingly.

"Shh. Shh. We're gonna get through this, I promise. We get through anything, right?"

"Chase, were you kidding when you said that you loved me?" I ask suddenly, a few more tears escaping my eyes.

"No. I wasn't kidding. I love you Mia. I love you." I smile, wiping away my tears.

Chase rolls over so he's on his back, and I crawl on top of him, and I wrap my arms around his back. I used to crawl on top of him like this when were little, and Chase didn't bother to push me off or yell that I have cooties or something.

"I love you too, Chase." I say, gently pressing my lips to his.

Okay, I'll admit, I've never kissed a boy before. Sure, I've exchanged sisterly kisses with Adam and Leo and Chase before, but this is the first kiss where I actually feel something stirring inside my chest. The feeling is warm and curious. This is the first kiss that makes me want another, and many more. There is nothing to interrupt us. And after a few attempts, Chase gives up on trying to pull away and talk. The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kiss has the opposite effect, of making my need greater.

Chase kisses me back with such genteelness I feel like I'm walking on air, and I open my eyes.

He pulls away, looking up at me with his chocolate brown eyes, clearing his throat. "Like I said before, Mia…We'll get through this."

"We will." I say softly, smiling at him.

I roll off of Chase and grip his hand, shutting my eyes. "You guys can come in now." I call sweeping my hair back behind my ear.

They come in, and I notice Leo's not here. "Where's Leo?"

"I told him to stay out there," Tasha says, motioning to the door, holding up a pink and white box. "I grabbed these just in case." She grimaces and hands me the box.

'PREGNANCY TESTS.' It reads in black bold lettering.

I bite my lip, suddenly becoming embarrassed. "Um, I'll, uh, be right back." I mutter, blushing before retreating to the bathroom and waiting.

One line.

Nope. Not pregnant.

I breathe a sigh of relief, exhaling a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I walk out of the bathroom, walking over to my family, who look at me expectantly, worry clear in their eyes.

"No."

They all exhale.

"But…I'm scared n-now. And since M-Marcus is at school…"

Adam looks mad. He roars, almost setting off his heat vision. "That jerk is not going to touch you, or even go near you. I am going to snap his neck in half for hurting you! He's DEAD!"

My eyes grow wide. "Okay, Adam, thank you." I say gently.

He nods, his shoulders relaxing.

Chase grips my hand. "Um…Adam, can I talk to you privately?" Chase asks, and looks over at me. I can read his thoughts clearly. 'I'm going to tell him that we're a couple.'

I nod, biting my lip. "Come on. Let's go get some ice cream." I pull my friends out of the room before they can protest, leaving Chase and Adam alone.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

"What's up, Chase?" My brother asks.

"Um…Please don't be mad…" I mutter, running a hand through my tousled hair.

"I won't." He says softly. "What is it?"

"Mia and I are dating." I say, then back up a cautious step to the door in case I need to get out of there quick.

He takes a deep breath. "That's okay."

I blink, confused. "W-wait, you're not mad?"

He shakes his head, smiling stupidly. "No, silly. I'm not mad. In fact, I'm happy. I know you two have liked each other from the first day we met. Just…Remember this. If you ever hurt her, I'll have to hurt you back ten times harder."

"I won't." I insist, glaring at my older brother, and Adam's jaw clenches. His shoulders tense up as if expecting a fight.

Yeah.

A fight in a hospital.

Because that's not ironic.

Nope.

"Okay, but it's just a warning." He says in a calm tone.

That scares me so much I have to stop and think really hard if he's my brother or someone else. He's usually so carefree and happy, but he's very protective of Mia, even more than I've seen him be. Of course, he has a good reason to. We all have a good reason to be protective of her, and each for our own reasons. But it all comes back to Marcus, and the fear of her getting captured again and used as some type of slave scares all of us, me the worst out of our family.

I nod, and Adam walks away. He pauses at the door. "Come on. Lets go meet up with them." He calls over his shoulder, and he walks out without another word.


	4. Chapter 4

***Mia's POV***

I see Adam and Chase come towards us, and I smile at them. "Hey boys. Gotcha some ice cream." I hold out the ice cream sandwiches.

"I like ice cream." Adam mumbles, looking at Chase, who doesn't say anything.

I hand the ice cream sandwiches to them and stare at my family one by one, smiling at them slightly.

Leo sighs, wiping his face with a napkin, getting rid of all the extra vanilla he might have stuck to his face. "Mia- Just…If you ever need anything, and I mean anything at all…Don't hesitate to ask us. Anything you need, we'll get it for you."

I smile at him gratefully, walking over to my technical little brother and hugging him.

"As long as it's not something feminine. Then count me out of that." Leo mutters, and I can feel my cheeks heat up, a pink blush tinting my cheeks and spreading to my neck.

"Leo!" Tasha exclaims, a horrified glint in her eyes, and I can see an amused glint in Davenport's eyes. "Well, sorry. Just gotta set the boundaries." He says, shutting his eyes. I roll my eyes and smack his arm playfully.

"I want to leave this place." Adam mutters, settling back in the lumpy, uncomfortable plastic chair, and not a second later does the doctor come into the room.

"You can. There's nothing wrong with you, Mia. You're very lucky to have not gotten pregnant."

I sigh in relief. Maybe it was my angelic half preventing me to get pregnant. I think I can change that if I want to.

I didn't want to get raped, but I did. My angelic half must have noted that, and stooped Marcus from getting me pregnant, and I'm grateful for that. I'm sure my family are grateful for that, too.

"Thank goodness. Lets leave this place." Tasha says.

I nod, looking up at the wall and counting the dots on each tile. Because I'm with my family, I feel safe. Although, I wonder what people at school will think if I tell them at I was raped by him. Better keep quiet about that.

* * *

><p>Chase's arm is securely wrapped around my waist as we walk to school, and I try to ignore the stares of people as we walk.<p>

Word got around that Chase and I are dating, and girls have been giving me threatening looks ever since. It's scary, but I've dealt with worse things before, so a girls stare isn't going to affect my mood. I just don't care.

I don't care. That thought scares me. It should, after all.

I see Marcus in the hallways at school, acting as if nothing ever happened. I tense up around him, my wings turning invisible to the regular mortal eye, so they can't see my wings and gawk in amazement and confusion and pure fear. I don't want people to think I'm a freak.

"Hey, Mia." Marcus says casually after everyone else has retreated to their classrooms, so we're the only people in the hallway. I tense up, hiding behind Chase and making myself smaller.

Adam puts his arm on my shoulder, and I gulp.

"Adam, get her out of here." Chase says, not breaking eye contact with Marcus. "I'll deal with him. Take her to the house, now."

Adam doesn't argue. When it comes to protecting me, their on the same page and very alert to what is happening around them.

They would die for me in a heartbeat, no questions asked.

My brother (we're not related, but I call him my brother, because it sure feels like it,) picks me up bridal style and leads me away to the house, where I will be safe with him, away from harm; and Eddy, for that matter. Eddy will put the house on android lock down, a security feature that Davenport added a couple days ago, after I was raped, to make sure that I don't get kidnapped again. And trust me when I say that's a mistake we're not willing to replay.

They can't me risk falling into the wrong hands, again, I might add.

I shut my eyes and fall asleep in Adam's arms just as we're reaching the house.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

"What do you want, Marcus?" I ask, gritting my teeth and glaring at him harshly.

"Aw, I wanted to play with Mia." He pouts.

"You are not going to touch her." I snap on pure instinct alone.

"I already did. Everywhere." Marcus says in a creepy voice.

My jaw clenches tightly as my fists bawl up in anger. I grind my teeth together and I fear my teeth are going to chip and snap in half. If I had Adam's strength, they'd be broken by now.

I breathe in and out, feeling Spike come on. I punch him in the face, and I yell a cry and hit him a second without a second thought or hesitating.

"Why did you do this?" I demand, looming over him.

I can feel Spike gain my consciousness, but I try to force him down, but my enraged emotions get the best of me, and everything goes black.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

I snuggle closer to Adam, and Adam sighs and turns off the television.

I lied with charmspeak and said that Adam and I were sick, and we had to go home.

But the reality was much worse.

I had to get away from Marcus, and I was forced to use charmspeak so I could leave.

I'm evil. Sue me.

"Adam, Marcus brainwashed me…then r-raped me…" I mutter, a tear running down my cheek.

Adam's eyes are filled with sadness, and the big guy looks like he wants to cry. "He's not gonna hurt you anymore. You have us now."

"Always." I whisper, and he smiles.

"Yep." He confirms. "Always."

* * *

><p>Eight months later, a huge snowstorm almost breaks the front door down. When the snow and the howling wind reside, Leo, Adam, Chase and I are going to go outside, and have a snowball fight.<p>

Okay, okay, I'll admit, I made that snowstorm, because it never snows in California. I needed something to do, and I decided to do that.

"Not without properly dressing first!" Tasha yells from the couch, reading a book called The Dwellers by David Estes. I peek at the title and see that it's called the Moon Dwellers, which seems interesting enough to read.

I snap my fingers, and appropriate clothes dressed for winter appear on our bodies, and I giggle softly. "Better?"

"Much. Now go have fun!" Tasha says, grinning, waving us away to go have fun.

"Thanks, Tasha." I say, grabbing Chase's arm and smiling at him, dragging him outside into the frosty air.

Adam, Chase and I are able to survive in extreme cold well over negative five thousand degrees Fahrenheit and heat over five thousand degrees Fahrenheit, so we're good.

We're more than 'good.'

Leo, however, is not.

He keeps getting a face full of snow every time from Adam and it annoys him, so he gets up, he keeps looking at me and saying in a slightly annoyed and raspy voice from the icy cold conditions, "Mia, please change the weather before I become Frosty The Snowman or a full-sized-Leo-shaped-icicle." His hat keeps falling off of his head, and he has to pull it up out of the cold snow.

"Snowball fight!" Adam yells, dumping snow in the back of my shirt. I yelp in surprise, my body temperature immediately heating up so the snow melts in a second.

Adam pouts, and he reminds me of a little kid who doesn't get what they want, and they pull that face. "Your automatic body temperature readjustment thing is a party pooper!"

"Well, sorry! Come on, snowball fight!" I say. "Me and Leo against you and Chase, Adam."

Chase shrugs. "Seems fair to me."

After a few minutes of fights and shouts of joy and laughing and smiles, I sneak up behind Chase, become invisible and not breathing to alert him that I'm here.

Creeping up behind my boyfriend, I smack him with a face full of snow.

He gives a yelp of surprise and falls onto his back, grinning up at me while I smile down at him, now visible.

I laugh, but my moment of glee gets cut short when Chase pulls me down on top of him, and I giggle, my hair falling in a blonde curtain in front of my face.

Chase flips us over so he's on top of me, careful not to crush me, and I look into my boyfriend's eyes and Chase leans down for a passionate kiss.

"Keep it PG! God!" Adam yells, shielding Leo's eyes from us kissing. "There are CHILDREN here!"

We ignore him, and Adam and Leo run inside, squealing like little girls about how us kissing is gross.

I swear, they're the children.

Man, I love my family.

* * *

><p>I groan, rolling over on the white couch as my vision slowly stops being dotted with white. I stayed out in the snow for well over eight hours, and my angelic half kept me from freezing to death, but my human half was numb to the bone. Literally.<p>

Tasha had me lay down on the couch while my human half thaws out. I tried to resist, but Tasha has such a motherly voice and she cares a lot about me, and everyone (including Eddy for that matter, who I would have laughed at a few months ago if someone told me that our smart-home system cared about me,) are worried about my safety. After all, I was kidnapped by Marcus, thrown into Douglas's lab, and raped.

"I don't feel good, Chase." I breathe, coughing into my arm weakly. "I think I stayed out there too long for a normal human being."

Chase looks worried. "Mia, you should go to your capsule."

"I don't think I can get up. And besides, I like it up here…"

Chase looks down at me. "I'll take care of you. I'll go make you some soup."

I nod, flipping over the pillow so it's cool, and I sigh in pleasure. "Don't be too long."

After what seems like hours of waiting, I hear Chase walk over to me, the spoon rattling in the bowl of soup he's about to give me.

"Thanks." I say, taking the bowl from him and leaning back against the couch, panting from just that one motion.

"I'm going to take your temperature." Chase says, holding a thermometer out.

I obediently open my mouth and we wait for a few minutes before it beeps. Chase takes it from me. His eyes widen. "Mia, you have a temperature of 109.6!"

"I don't feel that sick. Maybe my bionics are stopping me from dying, or maybe my nerves are all crazy and I can't feel my body burn."

"That's probably it." Chase says, taking the bowl of soup from me and placing it in the sink.

"Come lay down with me." I say, patting the couch.

"I don't want to get sick." Chase says warily.

"I know." I mutter. "Just, come here. I want to snuggle with my boyfriend."

Chase sighs, shuffling over to me and laying next to me.

A few hours later, my fever breaks and I blink awake when I hear Chase chuckle.

"Chase…Can I have hot chocolate?" I ask, my voice thick with sleep.

Chase smiles at me. "Sure. Anything for my princess."

I laugh quietly at that, and Chase kisses my forehead before getting up to make it. I shut my eyes, sighing as I hear the whipped creme get added on.

I nod gratefully at him and take the red coffee cup from him.

"Adam!" I yell, taking a small sip from my mug. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure!" He calls from his room. "What is it?"

"I need what girls need on their time of the month!"

It goes silent, and I can literally see Adam blushing. "Okay!" He calls after a minute of silence, "I will."

He runs with inhuman speed out the door and the door shuts behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>Adam's POV<strong>

"Hello, Adam."

I freeze just as I'm about to get into the car.

"What do you want, Marcus?"

He leans up against the tree, his arms crossed and his signature eyebrow raise that would make parents worried about their kids if he showed up at the park. Creepy.

"World peace." He answers.

"Right." I say sarcastically. "You want world peace."

"No. I just want her. She is mine, and I'll prove to Chase that she's better off with me. And if Chase refuses to hand her over to me, your little 'sister' dies."

"Yeah, well, you're not getting Mia. Not while we're around."

I get in the car and drive away without looking back.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

Adam comes in holding a plastic bag from Walmart.

"That," he says, his cheeks tinged with red, but I can't tell if it's from the cold or from the embarrassment, but I assume it's both. "was embarrassing."

"Sorry." I say, stretching my stiff muscles.

"People were looking at me." He whines, a blush creeping up on his cheeks.

"Sorry, again, Adam." I say sheepishly.

He sighs. "That's okay." He looks over at me. "Um, Mia, Marcus cornered me outside-"

"He what?" Chase demands, holding my waist tighter.

"Yeah. He said that he'll show you that he's better than Chase, and he said that if he resists, Mia dies."

Chase's jaw clenches. "That's it. When I get my hands on him, I'll-"

"Chase." I interrupt.

"Right." The murderous look leaves his eyes.

I suddenly grow nervous, fidgety, and I feel like something is going to go wrong, very, very soon.

A few months have passed, so it's summertime now, and I yawn. "Well, I think I'm going to bed. Night, guys."

"Goodnight." Adam says. I smile at him.

I change into some pajamas before falling asleep.

* * *

><p>I'm running. From a man dressed in all black with a white mask on. I don't know who it is, or what they want, but I'm scared.<p>

The masked man appears in front of me, and he spreads his arms out as if showing me something spectacular, and I have a gut feeling that it will be just the opposite.

He steps to his right, and I see Adam and Chase hanging by chains, shackled to their wrists and their ankles.

I try to call out to them, but they don't hear me. They keep muttering my name, saying how I'm dead and if I'm dead their lives are worth nothing. I turn around to fight the man, but he's not there anymore. Whirling around, I see the man stand there in front of my friends, a knife glinting in his hand in the dimly lit room. I don't see what happens next, but I'm pretty sure I know what happens.

I wake up screaming.

* * *

><p>I hear Chase come sprinting up the stairs, barreling into my room like some kind of superhero.<p>

"Mia-"

"Nightmare…" I breathe, shaking from fear.

Chase looks over at me sadly before picking me up in his arms, setting me down on my bed with me snuggling into his chest.

We stay like that for a few minutes before I hear Mr. Davenport curse loudly.

Chase walks downstairs with me in his arms bridal style, and I already see Leo, Adam, Mr. Davenport and Tasha downstairs in their pajamas and bathrobes.

"What's wrong?"

"The AC's out." Mr. Davenport replies, muttering a swear word, and Tasha smacks him on the back of the head.

I can literally feel the temperature begin to rise in the house.

"Guys, go open the windows." Mr. Davenport says, and my friends nod, scampering off to do just that.

I groan. "Stupid summer!"

I hear Chase sigh. "Yeah. Come on, let's put you up to bed. Night, everyone." He says, carrying me up the stairs and setting me down gently onto my now cold bed.

He's about to leave, when I catch his hand. He looks over at me, and I looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. "Stay."

Chase nods, and I feel the bed dip, and Chase's arms wrap around my shoulders.

"Goodnight. Again." He says, and I smile, even though he can't see me.

"Night, Chase." I say, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

><p>"Good morning, guys." I say, yawning as I rub the sleep out of my eyes.<p>

"Morning, Mia and Chase." Adam says, grabbing a bowl of cereal and dumping maybe half the box into the bowl and adding enough milk to drown an entire city.

"Morning." I say, grabbing an apple. "Is the power back on yet?" I ask, and Tasha shakes her head.

"No. School's canceled."

Adam cheers. "Yes! Come on, let's go down to the lab!"

He shoots up out of his chair and stops in the elevator, grinning at us. I shake my head, but follow him, Chase behind me.

I open the steel door, chatting with Chase and Adam, when I see Marcus sit there in Mr. Davenport's crisp white chair.

I draw a sharp intake of breath when he turns to me. "What are you doing here?" Adam demands.

"Waiting." Marcus runs up to me with inhuman speed, smirking. "Glad to see you again, Mia." I freeze, my throat suddenly tight, panic flashing across my eyes.

He strokes my cheek, and a tear snakes down my cheek, the memories flashing through my head.

Adam and Chase block his path, glaring at Marcus, when I hear Leo come over, walking down the stairs.

"Hey-"

Then his features change from relaxed to as hard as stone. "What are you doing here?" He demands. "How did you get passed the android-block?"

"I have my ways." Marcus says mysteriously.

"Leo- Mia's having a panic attack. Take her upstairs. Now." Adam instructs, and Leo doesn't argue.

He takes my hand, mumbling words of encouragement that are meant to be soothing, and I'm grateful for that.

The part of my brain that isn't blocked by fear registers that in the two years I've come to know him, at age 15, how mature Leo is.

"Come on, Mia." He says soothingly. "Let's go get some hot cocoa."

"I like hot cocoa…" I mumble, blinking slowly.

"Yeah, me too."

The elevator dings, and Leo grabs my hand, and I stumble numbly into the kitchen after him.

"Mom, Big D, Mia's having a panic attack. Marcus is down in the lab-"

"What?!"

"…And Mia had a panic attack."

Tasha springs into action. She leads me to the couch, grabbing a blanket, and I smile warmly at her, though my eyes are panicked.

"I'm going down there." Davenport says.

I shake my head. "No. You'll just make it w-worse if Marcus knows you're here…"

Davenport sighs. "Yeah, you're right. Eddy, camera, on, now."

Eddy doesn't argue.

The lab security camera pops up onto the screen, and Marcus is standing there calmly.

"I'm going to take her, and you can't stop me."

"Yeah. Because that'll happen." Adam snarls sarcastically, his fists clenching together tightly so hard his knuckles turn white.

"It will."

"Like your fat face it will." He snaps.

Marcus sighs. "Fine, then I'll just get Leo."

"You won't touch him." Chase says, blocking the elevator.

"Then choose. Mia or Leo."

I turn to Leo instantly. "Leo, I'll go. You're only 15. I can sustain a lot more physical and mental damage than you, no offense."

"I'm not letting you risk getting your memory wiped. Not again." Mr. Davenport says firmly. "One too many memory wipes, and you won't even remember your own name."

"I'm still going." I say, and before they can stop me, I appear in front of Marcus.

"I…I choose myself. But first…I want to say goodbye."

Tasha, Mr. Davenport and Leo come down the elevator, and we're all crowded in the lab.

"I'm sorry…" I whisper, then turn to Marcus.

"I need to say goodbye to my family. Leave, and I'll go with you and Uncle Douglas." I spit out Uncle Douglas like it's poison.

Marcus nods and leaves, in the entryway to the lab, his eyes hard and cold, just like the android he is. We shut the door just in case. The steel doors slide shut with a metallic boom, and Eddy locks the door so Marcus can't get in.

I turn to my friends. "I'm sorry, but I have a feeling that this will be the last time you'll ever see me…For a while, at least. Whatever you do, don't blame yourselves, okay? I love you all."

Adam, Leo, and Chase are all crying, and Tasha hugs me, giving me her necklace, closing my fist around it, the cold metal digging into my tanned skin.

My eyes widen as I look at her. "Mrs. Davenport-"

"Mom." She corrects, smiling gently at me through watery brown eyes. "I can't accept this. This is a gift from Mr. Davenport-"

"Dad." He corrects me, and I nod. "Yeah. Dad. This is a precious gift from him."

"It's my gift to you, now. Whenever you need to just look at it, and I hope it will remind you of home." She says, and I nod, hugging her.

Mom steps back, wiping her eyes.

I turn to Mr- Dad.

"I just wanted to say thank you. For everything." I say softly.

"Y-You're welcome." He stutters out, hugging me. "We'll miss you."

I can't say anything more for the fear of crying. I have to stay strong.

I move over to Leo, who grips my hand. "No. You're not leaving."

I swallow, a tear falling from my eye. "I have to. It's either me or you, and I can't take that risk."

"But he-"

I nod fearfully, cutting him off.

"I know." I say distantly, trying not to wince. "And God knows what else he'll do to me."

Then my eyes soften. "Come here, Leo." He jumps into my arms, hugging me tightly until Davenport has to pry him off.

I move over to Adam, who whimpers.

"Stay." He says.

"Always." I answer, then I shut my eyes, hugging him tightly. I feel his tears come full force, wetting my shirt. "Stay strong."

He laughs softly, hiding a sob. "I will."

"Watch out for Leo, okay?"

"I will. I swear, for as long as I live." He vows, nodding.

I smile. "Good." I kiss his forehead, swallowing heavily.

I hug Chase so hard he almost loses his balance. Another tear falls from my eye.

"I love you." He whispers.

Oh, forget about being strong. I start crying openly now.

"I know." I say, hugging him.

"Hey, don't worry." He says, trying to be strong, "you'll be fine. I know you will."

I try to ignore the fact that I'm scared.

"I hope so." I say honestly, ignoring the flashbacks.

"Chase…Falling in love is very real, but I used to shake my head when people talked about soulmates, thinking that they were some poor deluded individuals grasping at some crazy idea not intended for mortals but sounded pretty in a poetry book. Then we met, and everything changed."

"Everything did change." Chase agrees brokenly, sobbing into my shoulder.

"Guys, can you give us a minute?" They move away, shooting us one last look, and I nod firmly at them.

"Chase, I-"

His lips press gently onto mine. We kiss for about a minute before I pull away, shutting my eyes. I start to turn, but he grabs my shoulder, spinning me around.

"Please, don't go." He says, and I shake my head. "I can't stay. If I do, Marcus will kill you all. I don't want to risk that."

"Mia…" He breathes, his shoulders slumping down. "Stop sacrificing yourself."

"When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve. And I want to serve. I have to protect you."

"I can't let you go." Chase says, looking at me with pleading eyes. I look at him sadly, tracing my fingertips against his cheek, and a tear falls from his eye freely.

"I know. And I don't want to leave you, either. I…I'm grateful for all the times we shared."

"Mia, we need to leave! Now." Marcus snaps, and I huff.

"I love you. Remember that."

"I will." He whispers.

Adam, Leo and dad come back. I think mom left to go upstairs, because I don't think she could handle anymore sadness. I don't blame her.

"Goodbye, guys." I'm tempted to hug Chase again, but I resist the urge to.

"Okay, Marcus. I…I'm ready." I step back over to him, my face a mask of mixed emotions all at once. Sadness, anger, heartbreak, pain.

Chase starts freaking out, begging me to not go, yelling threats to Marcus about killing him, and sobbing mixed with screaming, almost animal like.

It takes Leo, Adam and dad to hold him back, all their faces grim.

He outstretches his hand to reach me, as if to grab my hand and pull me to him. I reach out to him, and our fingers almost touch, just like last time, when I got taken the first time, when Chase proclaimed his love for me, and when I was in the hospital. "I'm so, so sorry, guys."

I glare at Marcus. "Okay. Let's go. …Goodbye…"

Marcus grips my shoulder, and I squeeze my eyes shut, a tear plopping down to the cement ground of the lab.

Everything goes black, and when I appear in Douglas's lab, my heart breaks in two.

* * *

><p><strong>Leo's POV<strong>

I feel tears rush down my cheeks from what I just saw.

The enemy, the jerk, just took my 'sister', my best friend, away. And for what cause? To get back at Davenport? Why don't they just grow up already?

Chase, after an hour and a half of screaming and crying, falls silent. He keeps muttering 'Mia' and 'No.'

Adam may be the least educated out of Chase and Mia, (and I, for that matter,) but when it comes to his family and emotions, he's probably the smartest human being on the planet earth, which is saying something.

Adam walks up to him, wrapping him up in a hug, and Chase buries his face in his shirt, and sobs openly.

If this weren't such a tender moment, and if someone told them that they hugged and had a touchy-feel good moment, Chase and Adam would have punched them in the gut simultaneously, which wouldn't feel too good.

Huh. Even the smartest human being and the strongest human being can break. It comes to show that all humans, real or bionic, have emotions.

Androids, however, do not.

"I lost her…" Chase mutters, and Adam rests his chin on Chase's head, and stays silent, letting Chase cry out in grief.

I finally feel the numbness. It slowly creeps from my chest, to the rest of my body, extending to my fingertips, and it tingles. That's weird. I didn't ever think that numbness can make your nerves stop functioning.

"I…I gotta go." I say numbly, walking to the elevator, leaving my brothers alone.

I bury my face into the crook of my arm once I collapse to the couch, ignoring mom asking if I want food, and I feel the warm tears begin to flow again.

Why did I let this happen?

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

I don't care what my family thinks, I'm upset.

"She, she…She's gone." I stutter, exhaling into Adam's shirt.

"I know, Chase. God, trust me, I know." He says, sitting down in a chair for the fear of his legs buckling underneath him from grief.

I would've done the exact same thing.

"Adam…I-I…" I break away from his hug, anger streaming through my veins, throwing Davenports inventions around the room, and they shatter, tearing apart useless books, little pieces of paper fluttering the the floor in tiny slivers. I'm surprised when Spike doesn't come out use to the anger and the pain I'm feeling.

I need something to hit.

My capsule can withstand a missile hit, so I choose to hit my fists against that until they hurt, and I know I'll have a few bruises.

I scream, I cry, I throw a fit like I'm two years old who doesn't get what they want. I feel like a little part of me died, and I think a part of me did.

Adam waits patiently for me to get all my anger out. When I'm done, I drop to the floor, curling up into a ball and crying. I hear Adam get up, and he effortlessly picks me up into his arms. I feel silly, (after all, he is my older brother.) but I feel young, and, well, safe.

"Hey, guys." Adam mumbles, walking out of the elevator with me next to him, my eyes red from crying and my head hurting. "Dinner?"

"Yeah." Tasha says, her body posture sad, her eyes defeated, but she cleans another plate, putting it away automatically. "I made chicken and french fries in the fryer."

Nobody says that is Mia's favorite dinner.

She takes off her oven mitts before handing us each a plate of food.

"I'm not hungry." I say, walking upstairs, crossing my arms over my chest.

Without meaning to, I walk into Mia's room and I freeze in the doorway, and a big chunk of my heart feels like it has been ripped out of my chest. I sit down on the bed, looking out the window, getting lost in my thoughts, but it always goes back to one girl, one beautiful face, one beautiful girl. One name.

Mia.

I feel hot tears run down my cheeks and I sob quietly. Adam comes into her room, holding a plate of the said dinner.

"Chase, I brought you dinner."

"I'm not hungry."

"I know, but you need to eat."

"Leave me alone, Adam."

"No."

"Do it."

"No."

"Leave."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

He sets the plate down on the wooden table and sits next to me, putting an arm on my shoulder in a means to comfort me. I lean into his chest and sob, pressing my face against his yellow and black horizontal striped shirt.

His arms wrap around me fully and he sobs, and we just sit there for a while. "I miss her."

"I know." He says, pressing a brotherly kiss to the top of my head. "We all do."

We sit in silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

"Hello, Mia. I've heard much about you." Douglas says, handing me a plate of food. I nod, picking at my food. A bacon cheeseburger and french fries on a white plate, freshly made from a psychopath and his creepy son.

Bon appétit.

Not worth saying anything when you have the two of the world's biggest psychopaths a foot away from you, watching you eat.

"I know you miss your family," Douglas says, "but we're your new family now."

Wow. What a weak attempt to make me feel better. My family now consists of an android that raped me and has a huge crush on me and an insane scientist who are both alarmingly bent on getting revenge on dad and killing my friends, are now my family.

Yeah. Sure.

'Family.'

Let's just roll with that, because you know, that's fine too.

Whatever helps them to get through the night.

I'd honestly prefer torture over this. This 'Sweet on Mia' thing is making me wary and untrusting, cautious. Which is exactly what they want.

I decide not to say anything.

Marcus grins, leaning over, his lips about to touch my cheek. I panic, and scalding hot water burns his cheek.

Marcus winces, and Douglas nods approvingly, looking up at me. "Good job, Mia."

Does he seriously think that HIS praise will help me adopt and adapt? He's dumber than I thought.

Don't speak. It's not worth it.

'Chase…' I speak with him in my mind, appearing as an illusion in front of him, hoping I can talk with him.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

"Chase…" I hear Mia say, right in front of me.

Adam looks up, blinking. "Did you hear that?"

I nod mutely, and I feel another tear trace down my cheek. My head hurts from crying, but I'll be okay.

Okay is a rhetorical statement.

Adam's arms tighten around me, locking me in like a vise, and I grip his shoulders tightly, feeling weak.

"Boys…Look up…Please." She whispers, and we both look up simultaneously, and Adam's eyes swim with shock, disbelief, pain. His usually bright eyes have dulled, dulled to a sour whiskey color, surrounded by a very thick veil of numbness and grief and anger.

"Hi." She says softly, and walks over to us. "M-Mia? Are you…"

"Dead?" She asks, then shakes her head. "No. Marcus and Douglas are not hurting me in any way shape or form."

I let a sigh of relief, and Adam does the same.

"Are they hurting you?" I ask, anger spiking into my veins, but before I can throw something, Mia shakes her head.

"No. Douglas and Marcus are being nice to me, which is worse. I don't trust them, but I think that's what they want. I'm not speaking to them for the fear of…"

She trails off, and I immediately understand what she's saying.

"Adam, can you give us a few minutes?" She shoots him a look that screams if you don't I'll hit you.

"Sure." He presses a kiss to my temple gently before shutting the door gently behind him.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, and I try to figure out if she's here, if she's here or not.

"Hi…Chase." She whispers, wiping a tear from my cheek with the pad of her thumb.

Yep. Defiantly real.

Right?

I just don't know anymore.

"H-Hi Mia." I manage to stutter out, my voice breaking. "It hasn't been the s-same without you."

Mia nods, her eyes a million miles away. "I know." She says, sitting next to me and kissing me softly.

I pull away and sob into her chest, and she strokes my head, her eyes filled with sadness.

"Shh. It's okay, Chase. I…I'm okay."

I take a shaky breath, and Mia's hands run up and down of back comfortingly, sending warmth and pleasure throughout me, and I squeeze my eyes shut to prevent the waterworks from flowing.

Okay, okay, before anyone yells at me on how irresponsible I am, Mr. Davenport had 'the talk' with me about…well, everything. It was very awkward for both of us, and I'm engineered to be the smartest human being alive, so I already knew everything from 'peach fuzz' to, well, I'm not going to get into specifics, but that didn't make it any less awkward.

"I don't like them." She mumbles, shutting her eyes.

"No one in this household does." I say honestly.

My girlfriend nods. "Um, Chase…Marcus tried to touch me."

I go rigid. "He what?"

She realizes she choose her words poorly, and she shakes her head quickly. "No, it's not like that. He tried to kiss me, and I burnt him with scalding water."

"Good job." I say, my anger dissolving, kissing the top of her head.

She laughs, and it feels like a weight has been pushed off of my chest.

She pulls me in for another kiss, sliding her hands up and down my back gently. I press my lips to her cheek, and fall next to her in the bed. "I love you."

"I love you too." I say, and Mia's body goes stiff. "He says I have to go back…Remember Chase, I-"

She leaves, and I feel the numbness spread throughout me yet again.

It's like whenever she's here, I'm back to old, regular self. I'm happy, I guess. I still am.

Right?

But when she leaves, I'm numb.

I just want her to come home.


	5. Chapter 5

**Mia's POV**

"Mia, Mia…" I blink awake, and I see Marcus leaning over me, blocking out the bright light. "Come on, it's time for breakfast."

Why does he care about me? He just wants to manipulate me a second time, so I'm more wary of them than ever before. After all, I deserve to be.

I've been here for since June 11th. So I've been here for two months, six days, thirteen minutes and forty five seconds. The date is August 25th.

I've seen my family two times in that time span.

It was my birthday on August 18th, and I didn't spend it with my real family.

Douglas gave me a cupcake, and Marcus got me a bracelet.

Yep. You heard me. That's right. I got a chocolate cupcake and a bracelet from the worlds biggest sociopaths and psychopaths.

Happy birthday to me.

I miss my family like crazy.

Mom is defeated, her eyes no longer sparkling. She mindlessly keeps working around the house, sobbing or looking away whenever she passes my door.

Dad keeps staying in the lab, sitting in the wheely chair, staring at my capsule, making new inventions, but there's no life in his eyes. His sense of superiority vanished when I was first taken. It was a huge wake up call for him.

Leo's eyes are hollow. Trent doesn't bully him anymore, because no one messes with me nowadays unless they want to get sucker punched in the stomach by Adam and Chase at the same time or thrown into a garbage truck.

Oh god. Adam and Chase are the worst.

They keep the family together, but their falling apart themselves. It's like there's a cliff with a 500,000 drop and their hanging on by their fingertips, slowly slipping, one finger at a time, grasping at any handhold, but failing.

It's torturous for me to watch.

Adam just sits in my room, clutching my shirt, which still has my scent on it. He hangs onto it like it's his lifeline, and I guess it is. It's probably the only thing that's keeping him sane, a reminder that I'm not dead. And jeez, if I was dead…I don't even want to think about it. It's too painful to even think about, and it makes me cringe.

Chase has gone silent, expect for the occasional one worded answers or not saying anything at all to anyone. And crying. Lots of crying, sitting in my room, looking out the window, fingering the necklace he gave me two years ago, on my fourteenth birthday, and nightmares.

The nightmares are the worst.

When he does have nightmares, he screams, he yells out in agony, he sobs, his eyes grow wide with fear as he tries to tell reality from fantasies, and he mutters convincing words to himself, trying to calm himself down.

Adam comes into my room and sleeps next to him, and they fight off their nightmares together. It's so brotherly, it makes my heart break.

Marcus keeps trying to kiss me, and I use my powers on him, and it hurts him. Douglas nods in approval whenever I do it, and I feel sick to my stomach. He keeps praising me, and I don't speak to them.

It's not worth trying to talk to them.

We go to school, and I lock eyes with my friends, my eyes screaming for help. They see me, and they want to help me, but they can't. If they help me I die. Simple as that.

I slowly eat my pancakes, even though I don't need to eat. Eating, chewing, swallowing, but not really tasting. There's a difference.

"Mia, come on. It's time to test your powers." Marcus says, trying to grip my hand, but I pull away before he can touch me.

I glare at him, and thunder rumbles, lightning sparking around my body. Marcus smiles, placing a hand on my arm. I lock my jaw, glaring at him.

"Mia, we're going to go to my brother's house." Douglas says.

I blink, confused, and the lightning disappears in my confusion, my brow furrowing. If he and Mr. Davenport are enemies, why would Douglas and Marcus bother going to Dad's house? It doesn't make any sense.

What are they planning?

Obediently, I get up and walk to my room, changing quickly.

I sigh, tapping my fingers on their shoulders and we appear in the house. The room is dead silent. I do a mental scan of where everyone is. Mom and dad are at the store, and Leo, Chase and Adam are at school.

I wonder if they're thinking about me, wondering if I'm okay or not.

Marcus grins, and starts trashing the room, throwing our comfortable pillows across the room, using his laser vision to destroy everything. Douglas rips stuff apart with his bare hands, laughing insanely about how Donny will be surprised. I just stand there, frozen with disbelief.

Douglas stands over me, shoving me to the ground.

"Now for the twist." He smirks, pulling out a knife and stabs me in the stomach.

Well, that was a bad pun.

He's deceiving, sly, selfish, manipulative, insane.

I'm not freaking out, or screaming, or crying out in pain, I'm calm. I expected this. I foresaw this coming, him stabbing me, literally and figuratively. I feel like I'm passing out.

Dark spots blotch my vision and I blink, feeling the blood rush down my stomach in tiny droplets, like warm, sticky, wet red rain.

I look at Marcus, pleading for him to help me, and everything goes dark.

* * *

><p><strong>Marcus's POV<strong>

My eyes grow wide as my Creator stabs Mia in the stomach in one swift motion. I may hate the Davenports, but Mia…I…Well, I care about her.

I catch her before she falls to the ground, setting her down gently onto the couch so she doesn't smash her head on a piece of broken glass and possibly get brain damage.

Creator laughs gleefully. "I killed her."

I feel sick, and my gut twists. Sure, I scare people, especially Mia when I did unspeakable things to her, but that was an order from Creator, and I can't argue or rebel, or I would be deactivated, and I'd rather not get killed.

I stare at Mia, then Creator, then Mia again, then Creator yet again, going back and forth between my Creator, and the girl I just saw get stabbed in the stomach by an egotistical sociopath.

"Creator, why did you kill her?" I ask, my voice strangely calm, and I'm surprised. I'm freaking out on the inside, but I manage a calm posture and composure on the outside.

I am very good at acting. I made drama club. Creator wants me to take a dance lesson and perform on Broadway. I scream at him in my head to let it go, but he won't stop pestering me about it, even till this day.

It's very annoying, mind you.

"Because I can't wait to see the looks on their faces." He says, wiping the blood off the blade with a sand colored rag and stuffing it into his pocket, a look of pure joy on his face that makes my stomach knot.

I can't help yelling at him, feeling a surge of something flowing, (is that anger and protectiveness I feel towards Mia?) throughout my body. "Creator…You said you wouldn't hurt her!" I yell, and his face hardens again, his eyes no longer filled with an insane urge to kill or happiness or joy.

He says his next words in a harsh tone. "Yeah, well, I lied. I do that. And you have better mind you tongue around me, robot, or I will deactivate you." He spits out the word robot like it's venom, and it is.

I stand up straight, angry. I have to remind myself that he can kill me with a simple press of a button. Before I can do anything, I remind myself that Mia could be dying, and me yelling at Creator won't help her to stop the bleeding in any shape or form. I calm down, even though I want to hit him.

In a calm, collected voice I say, "At least let me help her."

He nods. "Fine."

I grab a towel from the rack and press it to her stomach, and she sighs, her face relaxing slightly.

Slightly, but not enough.

"Come on," Creator says, "let's leave." I nod, looking down at Mia with…Love?

Huh.

Whoa, okay, I don't love. I am literally a robot with human characteristics.

When Creator turns his back on me, preoccupied with tearing up a pillow, I hesitate for a fraction of a second, placing down a flash drive that has a holographic message to the Davenports for them to watch.

I look at Creator. "Let's go, Creator."

And we leave with Mia in my arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

I laugh at what we saw today. Trent got dumped by a girl because the girl saw that he was bullying Leo, and he sobbed like a baby in front of everyone. In the moment of humor, we almost forgot about Mia. I swear it was almost like she was with us.

Almost.

I open the door, and what I see shocks me. Leo gasps in surprise. The living room is trashed, everything strewn and smashed.

We'll deal with that later.

Picking through the broken glass, I see a holographic message on an automatic phone on the table, unbroken, obviously left there on purpose for us to find and watch.

I walk over to it, and a holographic Marcus appears in a ghastly blue light.

"This video will be re-recorded and saved onto this flash drive in case you all are not present at the moment. It will also be used for future reference in case you need to figure out what I am about to say." He says in an automatic voice, then blinks and stares at us with those creepy holographic eyes.

"Hello, brothers." He snarls out, smirking at the end, then grows sad and serious. "If you are watching this, Mia is…" His posture slumps, and he runs a hand through his jet black hair, and he looks absolutely heartbroken and tired. "Dead."

"No!" Adam and I scream at the same time, tears swimming in our eyes.

Leo just stands there in shock, his eyes wide.

Marcus continues before we can destroy anything. "Or at least dying, in a very bad condition."

I take a deep breath, wiping away another stray tear. Alive, breathing, but possibly dying. But it's better than dead.

"She was stabbed-" Adam and I jump up like we were shot out of a cannon, anger shooting through my bones.

"What? By who?!" Leo asks as if he's there, but he's not.

We continue the message. "-and I bet you're wondering who would do this to her. And it was not me. I saved her life."

I blink, disbelieving. "You," I snarl, as if Marcus is standing right in front of me, "You saved her. You?!"

"Before you come and murder me," he continues calmly, "It was not me, as I said before. It was my Creator."

DOUGLAS did this? He is SO dead!

"Creator decided that it would be fun to watch you wither in agony and cry. Which is debatable. Mia is alive- but she keeps muttering all your names, wincing in pain. She's healing, but there will be emotional damage, trauma." He flinches and looks very guilty, but blinks and looks over his shoulder for a second before turning back to us.

"Which brings up another point."

I take in a sharp breath, confused.

"I was following orders when I was told to carry out what unexplainable things I did to her. If I didn't, Creator would have deactivated me." He clears his throat, looking distressed. "She misses you all greatly, but we need her."

Why?

"Chase, Adam, Donald, and Leo…" his face twists up at our names, like he's going to regret his next words. "I need you all to listen very carefully."

We do.

"There is a way to help Mia, and kill my Creator."

Well, that's news to us.

"Creator will put Mia in a coma with a needle filled with simulation serum in two weeks. This serum will create simulations of her deepest fears, and make her into the perfect soldier who is virtually indestructible."

My eyes grow wide.

"I already know her fears. Douglas has been planning to kidnap Mia for months. I know you would do anything to save her. I know you care deeply about her, and I do too."

Leo blinks in shock, and I just stare at holographic Marcus.

Wow. Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming.

"But anyway…My Creator is human, but he has enough mechanical knowledge to build an army of androids to destroy the world, with me leading them."

Oh yay.

"My Creator is human, and there is a way to kill him."

Really? Why not just shoot him in the heart with a gun? That works. And if he cannot be killed with mortal weapons, how do we kill him?

"Shooting him will not work. He has made himself bulletproof. There are four rings and four daggers from the Horsemen of legend." Marcus says, as if reading my mind.

Okay, never mind. A gun won't work in this situation.

I mentally search every legend about The Four Horsemen until I find a specific one. Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

We're going on an adventure, Adam, Marcus and I. Yeah, because nothing can go wrong with that plan.

"There are daggers. Four daggers and four rings. The rings will fit on the hilt of the daggers, each with their own respective dagger, and by stabbing him with all of them, then saying the word banish in Latin, exterminant, that's how you will defeat my Creator." Marcus says, and his form flickers momentarily with a almost non existent buzz. If you didn't have my bionic hearing, you wouldn't have been able to hear it.

"We have two weeks to find all eight items, and it will be hard. I know where they are. Two are hidden in a forest called White Forest, two are hidden near a volcano called Mountain Nyerere, two are hidden in a barren ice land disguised on what humans call Antarctic, and that part of Antarctic is called Susquehanna, and two are hidden in a cave called Ereranhart, hidden under the ground, near here. But be careful, there are dangers everywhere. This message will be re-recorded. I will be accompanying you on this mission. Good luck, Adam and Chase. We will all need it."

The blue image of Marcus makes a small zapping noise, and his ghastly form gets placed back into the holographic phone.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm trusting Marcus.

I sit down, running a hand through my hair. The door opens, and the Davenports are back, holding the groceries in their hands.

"What's wrong?" Tasha asks, and I point to the holophone without saying a word.

Davenport blinks. "What-"

"Just watch it." Adam says in a grim voice.

Davenport walks over to it, and presses play. Marcus explains what happens again, and Mr. Davenport puts his face in his hands, then looks up at us. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Adam nods confidently, standing up. "Yeah, we're sure. Will you help us?"

"Yeah." Leo says, smiling, "we will. Always." Then he turns to Mr. Davenport.

"Big D, can I stay here and help? I want to watch over the house."

Davenport hesitates, and looks like he wants to argue, because Leo breaks practically everything he touches, but given the situation, he caves in, nodding.

Tasha moves over to her phone, placing her jacket in the closet.

"I'll go call Principle Perry and tell her that we're going on vacation for however long this mission will take." She leaves to go make the phone call.

When she leaves, we go down to the lab. "We're going to need weapons, and lots of them. Marcus says that there are dangerous enemies that will stop at nothing to stop us from getting those rings and daggers. He's also coming with us."

"I don't trust him." Leo speaks up immediately. "Not after what he did to Mia."

"Well, he did save Mia's life." Adam says. "Even though he raped her."

I nod. "Yeah, but we have to team up with him. He knows where the rings and the daggers are. We'll keep an eye on him."

"Just… Come home safely, okay?" Davenport asks, and I nod.

"We will."

We go change into our mission suits, and we pack a few mortal weapons, just in case. A long sharp hunters knife is strapped to my belt in a leather/weather resistant sheath, a high tech bow and arrow well over a thousand arrows, and varying sized throwing knives. A backpack filled with rope and a metal water bottle and a lot of flashlights with extra batteries and other survival gear that are packed into two bags. Extra clothes, nonperishable food items, more weapons just in case. A pistol is in a black thigh holster, extra bullets, everything we need for a long mission. I hook up my earpiece to my ear, and it buzzes, signaling that it's on and working.

Mr. Davenport and Leo will alert us if there's any human danger lurking around, and I feel better about that, knowing that they're going to help us out.

"You guys ready?" Adam asks, clipping on his own earpiece, shaking me out of my thoughts.

The atmosphere turns awkward.

"Yeah." I say, hugging my family, Adam joining in the group hug.

Marcus stands there, and I see, (is that jealously?) flash across his eyes, and we pull away.

"Be safe." Tasha says, smiling a bit at us, although I can see she's worried.

"Always." Adam replies.

We turn at the door, waving solemnly. "Goodbye, guys."

Davenport nods at us, a small hint of fear clouding his eyes. "Goodbye, Adam and Chase. Please save Mia."

Well, you don't have to tell us twice.

With one last look at our family, we leave.


	6. Chapter 6

**Adam's POV**

"Okay, so where is the closest location to two of the items?" I ask, trudging along the neat, cobblestone road.

We've been walking for four hours, far, far away from home, and we're in the middle of nowhere, with a long road, and no vegetation or houses, just a stone road that's cut in the middle of a prairie. I didn't know that California had this. Marcus said that we're close, we just have to walk a few more hundred steps.

"Ereranhart." Marcus says, scuffing some dirt with the toe of his boot.

"How do we get there?" Chase asks, stepping over an overturned rock.

"We find an opening in the ground." Marcus turns to me. "It may be small, but Adam, if we use our heat vision, it could open even more." Marcus says, walking a couple of more feet before stopping in front of a soft patch of earth. Perfectly circular and without any grass nearby.

A medium-sized fissure sits directly in the middle of the circle, with a bunch of smaller cracks on the sides, and it reminds me of a clock.

Marcus kneels down in front of it, pressing his fingertips to the larger crack. "Okay. Here's the weakest spot, where we can use our heat vision easily. Let's try it."

Marcus and I use our heat vision at the same time, red and green beams working together, and finally, after waiting a couple seconds, the dirt cracks and caves into itself, revealing a truck sized hole that we can easily drop into.

"Come on, let's go." Chase says, steeling himself for the jump by bunching his muscles together and taking a deep breath.

At the same time, we jump down into the hole.

The first thing I can comprehend is how closed in we are, and how hard it is for me to breathe.

It's not just a regular hole, it's a large cavern with all these designs that look like hieroglyphs and paintings of miniature people worshiping the Greek, Egyptian, and Roman gods, that tower over the smaller ones, from the old times. The really old times.

Dirt drips down from the ceiling, plopping down next to us as our steps squish from the wet mud that seems like it could cave in at any moment.

"So, which ring and dagger is this?" I ask, stepping carefully to avoid getting pulled in from how weak this soil must be after laying here for thousands of years or the mud crumbling beneath my feet.

"Pestilence's." Marcus answers, coughing rapidly, blinking.

"Marcus, you okay?" I ask without any care. Why would I care about him, after everything is done?

"Yeah. I'm fine, it's just that Pestilence is the Horseman of Sickness." As soon as he says this, I start to feel dizzy, like the air is slowly being sucked out of my lungs, and I can't breathe.

Oh yay.

"Okay. Try not to breathe." I instruct, and it works.

Unfortunately, I'm not Mia, where I don't have to breathe, so I take in small gulps of disease ridden air, so I don't pass out from lack of oxygen.

Taking in diseased air is better than taking in no air at all.

A glint catches my eye. A ray of sunlight lights up the dark cave, stretching over the walls, like jagged claws. I see a ring and a dagger, sticking out of a jagged grey rock, that reminds me of a mountain or a cliff.

"There it is!" Chase cries, running over to it, Marcus and I hot on his heels.

I didn't get a gook look at it from all the way back there, at the entrance, but I get a better look now than I did. The dagger is a shade of emerald green and the hilt is pale orange, a really pale orange that it looks white with a speck of orange in it. I know that green and orange don't mix, but whatever.

I walk up to it, sickly tears springing into my eyes from the sickness, and I cough rapidly.

"This stupid dagger is making me sick." I mutter, grabbing both items from the rock with my super strength. They pull out like a hot knife cutting into butter, and I stumble back from the extra force I didn't need to use.

The dizziness clears from my head, and I can breathe properly again.

A boulder drops directly next to me, and I yelp, backing away in alarm.

The room rumbles like an earthquake is occurring, and dust trickles from the ceiling, dusting my hair.

"Run!" Chase screams, grabbing my hand, "the room's going to collapse!"

Marcus grabs both of our shoulders, and super speeds his way out with us stumbling behind him. He's a blur, while Chase and I mumble curses after him and try not to be sick.

We dig upwards, clawing away at dirt, and I see the first wisps of sunlight.

I dig faster, and my hand breaks through the surface. I push up with my legs, and we're free.

We crawl out of the dirt, gasping for air and I shake the dirt out of my hair, sputtering and coughing.

A loud rumbling makes my head snap behind my, and I whirl around, watching in surprise as the cave collapses, dust swirling upwards.

I barely notice that the ring and dagger are clenched tightly in my hands, wrapped in my purple jacket in a protective manner.

"Y-You guys okay?" I ask, my voice shaky.

Chase groans, shutting his eyes. "I hate the earth."

Marcus wipes off some dirt from his jacket, then looks over at me. "Adam, do you have the dagger and the ring?"

I nod, smiling slightly, pulling the items out of my jacket and locking them out of my strong grip. "They're right here."

Chase cheers and high fives me, and Marcus nods in approval.

"Okay. I'll go tell Donald that we got it." He walks away, and my eyes narrow, and I'm tempted to follow him, but I don't.

"I don't trust him." I mutter.

Chase looks over at me. "He did just save our lives." Chase replies, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I know." I say, "but that doesn't mean he'll take the dagger and the ring for himself and use it on us or God knows who else."

My brother nods thoughtfully. "Yeah. You do have a point."

"I wonder if Douglas knows we're doing this."

"I don't know."

Marcus walks back to us. "Okay, I told him that we had the first dagger and the first ring."

I nod, still suspicious. "Where's the next closest location?"

"Susquehanna." Marcus answers.

"And where is that?" I ask, noticing how the trees become more dense, the sun dipping down below the horizon. I munch on a granola bar, trying to keep my strength up.

"It's in Antarctica." Marcus answers, slipping on a hat from his bag and onto his head.

I frown. "Antarctica? Why Antarctica?"

"Because, it's where an ice cave would be, Adam." Chase answers, looking up at the sunset, and it makes his eyes sparkle. "If you're right, Marcus, Mia will be fine by the time we get all eight items. How long did you say? Two weeks until she gets the serum injected into her?"

"Two weeks." Marcus confirms.

We walk for a few miles in silence.

All of the sudden, my earpiece crackles to life. "Adam, Chase, there are savages heading your way in approximately two point five miles. They will try and take Pestilence's dagger and ring and use it for their own twisted purposes." Mr. Davenport says, static cracking faintly in the background, much to my annoyance.

Chase looks up at us. "There are savages headed our way. We need to protect the dagger and the ring at all costs."

He unsheathes one of his knives and quickly sharpens it. Marcus checks his pistol, and satisfied, cocks it.

Savages are bad.

About twelve savages began circling us all around in the open space. Slowly they made their way out of the forest, liquid of some sort dripping from their mouths. I had never really seen one up close before, mostly just heard rumors and tales from people who had come across them and survived, even though not a lot do.

Kinda like Wendigos, from the old Algonquin folklore.

These people known as savages live in packs, eating really whatever they find- including each other.

The thought of it makes my stomach turn completely. They never bathe, leaving their skin rotten and disgusting, their hair was grown out and ratty, greasy and greying from uncleanliness. They are so thin you can't really tell if it was a male or a female.

Freaking cannibals, I swear.

"Four and four and four?" I offered- all of us taking four- speaking quietly so only my friends could hear me.

"Are you sure? They look tough." Marcus whispers, taking out a long steak knife, glinting wickedly in the rapidly decreasing sun.

It should be night soon, and that's bad. They're good hunters during the daytime, but since these things are adapted to kill and sneak around any terrain, their unbelievable hunters at night.

"Yeah, well, we have something they don't have. Bionic abilities." I hiss to them as the savages begin to creep closer.

Shivers run up my spine, and it reminds me of one of those scenes in old horror movies where the scary music played so the anticipation could build up right before the big fight or something else scary. These things don't go down easily, and their pain tolerance is very high, so they don't necessarily have the common sense to back down because they are hurt. So, the only way to get them to stay down is to kill them.

Springing into action with a roar of anger, I slash one's throat, using my super strength to push it away from me, and it lands on its legs with a sickening crunch, the bone sticking out slightly as it yells in pain. It is still alive, which surprises me.

Oh well. Not for long.

Jumping on top of it, I bring the knife down onto its neck.

One of them jump on me with inhuman strength just as I'm getting up from the body, and it surprises me, and I'm engineered to be the strongest man in the world.

See, this is why you never turn your back on an opponent. Ever.

I use the fact that it is on my back to my advantage. I back up into a tree full of sharp tree branches that stick into it's back, sandwiching the savage in between it and myself with maybe a quarter my super strength. I continue do that with great force, trying to get it to let go.

The thing eventually let go and I whirl around, cutting it's head clean off its body with the knife I have locked tightly in my hand.

You know, I'm starting to regret eating that granola bar.

I see my brother use a force field on one of them, and it lands on it's head on a jagged rock with a loud snap.

The thing doesn't move.

Chase goes back to fighting another, smacking it into a tree then using one bullet to shoot it in its heart. The thing screams slightly, and slumps down, blood beginning to pool around it's now dead body.

Yeah. I regret that granola bar.

I'll empty my stomach out later.

I see Marcus being trapped by one of them, his back against a tree, and I yell, getting Marcus's attention.

"Marcus, the arrows! Use them, now now now!"

One nice thing about arrows. Not only can you shoot them, but alone they make pretty great daggers, and his were sharpened so much they could damage just about anything and strike terror into any living thing.

I see his head turn to look at me before his eyes grow wide with realization. Using one of his hands, he reached into the quiver on his back and grabs a steel arrow. Bringing his arm back down again, he stabs it into the gut of his attacker with his super strength, pushing it until it went all the way through it, blood immediately dripping down the arrow like it was water running down a stream.

Marcus's eyes turn green, and the body erupts into flames, and the thing screams in terror as it makes a pitiful attempt to put out the fire. The body of the thing burns, and blood rushes out of its eyes, nose, and stomach until it stops twitching and lays still.

I could of lived my whole life without that image in my head; thanks, Marcus.

I grip the steak knife and drive it into the leg of the last one I need to kill.

Ripping the knife upwards from it's leg to it's stomach to it's head, the thing screams, and falls to the ground, a chunk of its head twitching as blood engulfs the blade, a bad, noisy squishing sound as the body gets bloody from the twigs and rocks on the ground, blood spilling out from all sides.

I burn the body without hesitating.

I can see Chase throw a small but stout knife at the last one he's fighting. It hits the savages neck with perfect accuracy, and blood pools out of the wound immediately like a volcanic eruption, spewing blood everywhere, spilling onto the dark green grass.

It tries to attack Chase, but he sidesteps, grabbing a tree branch that looks like a large metal mace and hitting the side of its head, hard.

It stops trying to attack my brother, and falls, dead.

We stand over the twelve dead bodies, glaring at them in disgust.

"You guys okay?" I ask, breathing heavily.

"That was interesting." Marcus mumbles, putting away his knife, the blade slides back into it's sheathe with a cringe worthy, sharp sling. I feel sick, my stomach going around and around on the carousel of dizziness.

"Adam- you okay?" Chase asks, concerned. I nod, looking at what I did to these…These things in horror.

"Y-Yeah." I say weakly, fighting back the urge to pass out as a wave of nausea slams me. "W-what would make you think I'm not a-alright?"

"You're pale. Really pale. You're shaking violently and you look like you're going to throw up or glitch." Marcus notes, walking over to me.

"Okie-Dokie Smokey. I'm gonna pass out now."

And I do.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

"Adam!" I yell, running over to my brother and making sure he doesn't split his head open on a tree branch.

"What happened?" Leo asks through the earpiece.

I roll him over so he's face down on my lap. I curse softly when I see a scratch mark on his neck, just missing his chip on his neck.

Our bionic chips are very sensitive. If that scratch mark hit his chip directly, Adam could have glitched miraculously, taking out everything from here to Tijuana.

"Nothing," I say, my body slumping down in relief, "it's just that one of the savages scratched his neck. It missed his chip, thank God."

I hear Davenport sigh. "Thank goodness. Try telling him about happy memories…With…With Mia." I visibly recoil at her name, taking a step back and cringing, but Davenport quickly continues. "Try telling him about all the fun times you guys, not Marcus, had. I think he'll wake up, being reminded about the happy times you guys shared."

I take a deep breath. "Hey Adam, remember that time when Tasha made brownies and you accidentally slipped because the floor was wet from Davenport mopping it a few minutes ago and your face got in all of the brownies? How everyone laughed, and you grinned, wiping away the crumbs in your hair? How Mia laughed for fifteen minutes straight, and she had tears of laughter pouring out of her eyes? Remember how happy she was?"

Adam groans weakly.

"And remember how when Leo had a nightmare a few years ago, Mia held his hand and hummed a song to him until he fell asleep, how she tucked him into bed and kissed his head so he knew that he wasn't alone?"

Adam breathes in deeply, exhaling through his nose.

"Remember when Mia hugged you when you saved her life? How you picked her up like a toddler and she promised how she would be with you, even if she wasn't there physically, she'd always be there for you and with you, in the back of your mind, for all of us? Remember…Remember how that was her first time saying the word always?"

"Always." He whispers, a slow grin touching his lips. He gasps, sitting up suddenly. His eyes grow wide. "Mia!"

"Adam." Marcus breathes, "You're okay."

"Yep." He says, scratching his head. "Sorry. My chip must be very sensitive."

"Never do that again!" I yell at him, getting rid of all my nervousness and being worried about my older brother.

"Sorry." He mutters, standing up.

I grip his arm just in case he falls. "Okay, so, Susquehanna?" He asks, and Marcus nods.

"Susquehanna." He confirms.

We continue walking down the road until we come to a forest-like clearing, surrounded by thick pine and oak trees.

"Guys, we need to rest for the night." I say, looking up at the moon, bathing my brother and Marcus in the pale white light.

"Why?" Marcus asks, frowning.

"Because if those savages come back, I don't want to be their main course."

Marcus considers this heavily, weighing the options of our survival at night if those savages really do come back.

He makes up his mind after a minute. "Yeah, let's do that."

He sets down his bag, dropping his body down onto his sleeping bag with a small thump.

"We need to build a fire. Adam, take your weapons and go find dry wood, please. Dry wood, okay?"

Adam nods, hefting his bag for wood on his shoulder and disappearing into the woods.

I drop down into my sleeping bag, tying some rope together into a noose, in different sizes. I let it drop after a few minutes.

I hear Adam come back with a bag full bag of firewood, and we clear the ground so that the firewood can have a place to burn.

Marcus's eyes look like dark pools of liquid in the firelight. "Our first night away from our houses. Us, sworn enemies, working together. Sounds like something out of a book or a movie. Can this day get any better?"

I roll my eyes, poking the fire with a large stick, watching the sparks catch on another piece of wood. "No. But don't get used to it, Marcus. The only reason we're teaming up is to save Mia's life."

He does the creepy one eyebrow raised thing. "Really? Is that why you both trust me?"

"We don't." Adam admits, frowning at Marcus. "So don't get any ideas. We don't trust you. You've tried to kill us multiple times, so we don't need to hear any of your lame, boring, self pity excuses."

Marcus shrugs. If the comment bothers him, he shows no sign of it.

He sighs. "Naturally. But in the end, you all know that we'll be sworn enemies again. Creator is holding Mia hostage, and we all care about her. Mia won't even think to trust me, not after what I did to her."

"We still hate you for it." I say bitterly, and Marcus's face turns hard, like granite.

"I'm going to bed." He rolls over and falls asleep.

I watch the flames rise, a small pop making me jump slightly.

Adam and I sit in silence. "We'll save her." Adam says after a while, resting his weight on his elbow and looking over at me.

I look over at him, then to the fire. "I know."

"I mean it." He says, getting up and crouching next to me, ruffling my hair like he used to do when we were kids.

"I'm kind of scared, Adam." I admit, running a hand over my face. "Who knows what will happen tomorrow?" Adam's face looks tan in the firelight. "Come here." He wraps his arms around me, and I hug him back.

A scream cuts through the darkness, and Marcus shoots awake.

"What was that?" He demands.

"CHASE! CHASE, HELP ME! PLEASE, HELP ME! HE…HE'S AFTER ME! HELP!"

I freeze, my eyes growing wide, ice pricking through my blood.

No no no.

She's not here.

Why is she here?

How did she get here?

Did Douglas let her go?

Did she escape?

I do the only thing I can think of.

I heft my weapons bag over my back and running towards her voice, crashing through brush and kicking away sticks that seem to be purposely in my way.

I need to reach her.

I need to stop Douglas.

Stop him from reaching Mia.


	7. Chapter 7

"Chase, don't!" Marcus yells, cursing as he tries to catch up to me, stumbling through the darkness after me, Adam quickly following.

"CHASE, CHASE, HELP ME! PLEASE!" She screams. "ADAM! ADAM! I…MAKE HIM STOP! PLEASE…Please…"

I can hear Adam sobbing from here.

"No, no! STOP!" She screams.

I can barely see through my own hot, salty tears.

Her screams get louder, and it's like someone's pounding at my head with a hammer, breaking my mind into little pieces. It's making me go crazy.

I don't think. I run.

I crash through a clearing, and her screams are directly over my head.

"Mia?!" I yell, notching an arrow.

I whirl around, trying to find her, until I see a little black bird.

My mind races until I find the correct term. The bird is called a Jabberjay, I remember. It has black feathers and white crest. Jabberjays have the ability to memorize and repeat entire human conversations, noises, including screams, but that doesn't make it any less torturous.

This isn't real.

Right?

I hear Leo scream next, then Tasha, then Davenport, and the part of my brain that isn't clogged by fear tells me to think rationally and kill the birds, and then…and then the nosies will stop.

But I can't. I can't focus. Their screams.

I shoot the arrow through the birds chest, and it hits the tree behind the bird. Again and again and again, but no matter how many I shoot, more take their place.

Eventually, I give up, curling up into a ball and pressing my hands to my head, as if I'm trying to crush my skull. My breaths coming out in short gasps.

Finally, after what seems like hours of pain, I can hear Adam shoot the birds down with his laser vision.

After the last one falls silent with a small spastic flap of it's midnight black wings, Adam walks over to me, and he's trembling with fear.

"C-Chase? You o-okay?"

I nod, sniffing.

Marcus looks around, his eyes glancing around the trees in case there are any more Jabberjays. He takes a knife out to one of them, hesitates for a fraction of a second, then turns to us. "I'm going after them."

I can't help catching his shoulder as he passes me. "Don't go in there, Marcus. The birds—" I remember that the birds must be long gone by now, but I still don't want anyone in there, with the birds. Not even him.

"They can't hurt me. I'm not like the rest of you. There's no one left I love." Marcus says, and frees his shoulder with an impatient shake, gripping his knife in his belt before walking away from us, the shadows swallowing him up.

Adam and I stand there in shocked silence, looking at each other, then the spot where Marcus seemingly disappeared.

"He'll be fine." Adam says, helping me up.

"I hope so." I say, cutting away a thick piece of brush so that Adam and I can go back to the campsite.

We get there, and I immediately flop down into my sleeping bag. "Goodnight, Adam." I say, yawning.

Adam fires his heat vision at the wood before throwing a tree branch onto the rapidly growing fire. It hisses, sparks spiraling up and clawing through the still night air.

"Night, Chase." He says, and I shut my eyes and fall asleep.

*Leo's POV* "Hey Big D." I say, nodding at him. "How's the mission going?"

"Pretty good. They fought off the savages. But there was an incident with Jabberjays…"

My eyes grow wide. "What? Jabberjays? Wow. What did Chase and Adam hear?"

"I think you know." He says, his face darkening.

"How are they?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"Haunted. Chase gave up and started screaming and sobbing. Adam barely managed to find him through his own tears." It stays silent for a second. "And Marcus said something. He wasn't effected by the cries of the birds."

I frown at that. "Why not?"

Davenport doesn't answer, he just turns to his computer screen and presses a button. It beeps for a second before I see Chase and Adam and Marcus appear on the screen, and they are talking.

Chase catches Marcus's shoulder as he begins to turn away, and Chase looks at him pleadingly. "Don't go in there, Marcus. The birds—"

Marcus shakes his head. "They can't hurt me. I'm not like the rest of you. There's no one left I love." Marcus says, and frees his shoulder with an impatient shake, gripping his knife in his belt before walking away from my brothers, the shadows swallowing him up.

Davenport turns off the devise. "Marcus isn't effected because he thinks that no one cares about him."

"He did manipulate us and Mia and did you-know-what to her."

He nods. "No. Douglas doesn't care about him."

"We don't care about him, either." I argue.

"I know we don't," Davenport agrees, "but he wanted attention from his father because he doesn't get enough."

Then he turns to Mia's capsule, his expression heartbroken. "I wonder how she's doing."

I don't answer, which is enough for him. My dad sighs heavily, and he looks like he just aged nine years.

"Yeah, Leo. I hope she's safe too."

*Mia's POV* Three days have passed, according to my internal clock.

I blink awake, and Douglas stands next to me. "Mia, come on. Let's go test your powers."

I shoot a lightning bolt at him, and it burns his skin. He screams in shock (sorry, bad pun,) and pain, muttering a swear word.

"What do you want with me?" I demand, ice floating off my fingers, and I glare at Uncle Douglas.

"I want to see what makes you tick."

"Adam and Chase will come for me." I counter, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Not if they see you in the forest."

"What-"

"Call it…Operation Fake 'Em Out. You'll go, but I'll duplicate another one of you so I can finish my testing. Although, the catch is, you die every time there's danger. And, you won't remember dying." He grins evilly. "Goodbye, Mia Comenzo."

Everything goes black, and I appear in a forest, my clothes a bit dirty and my pants ripped a little bit. A bag full of items for a journey and a weapons bag slung on my shoulder.

"Chase!" I yell, my voice echoing.

My wings hurt, so I don't want to fly. Last time I tired to fly with injured wings, I ended up from California to Tennessee.

"Chase! Where are you?!"

I step over a rock, my eyes turning emerald green for a second before turning back to their normal color.

"Chase?!"

*Chase's POV* My bionic hearing catches her voice, but I ignore it. It's probably just the birds. Although, she doesn't sound like she's in pain. Just worried.

It's then I hear footsteps, her footsteps, and I see a flash of beautiful blonde hair, and icy blue eyes.

"Chase-" Marcus warns, but I don't listen to Marcus, I run.

"Mia, Mia!" I yell.

"Chase!" I hear her call.

"Mia!" I run up to her and hug her, pressing my lips to her forehead, and we both sob in relief, my throat getting a lump.

Two months. I haven't seen her in two months. I was going out of my mind with worry, wondering if she was alive or dead. For two months, I was empty, numb to everything. Numb to my core, numbness tingling throughout my bones, slowly enfolding my mind. For two months, I tried to get Mia out of there, away from Douglas, and the worry, the slow I'm-being-nice-to-you kind of pain.

Something happened to my emotions in the two months she was gone. I became bitter, angry, shut off, most of my time being consumed with the probabilities of Mia being alive or dead, more likely to snap at someone than think rationally.

The lump of worry and anger dissolves when I see her.

"Chase…" She breathes, pulling me to her.

Our embrace. The kiss that goes on for a long time.

I pick my beautiful girlfriend up bridal style, and carry her to the campsite.

I can see Adam and Marcus's eyes grow wide, staring at the both of us in disbelief.

"Is that…is she-"

"Yeah. She's really here." I say, setting her down gently.

Adam springs up, tackling Mia in a hug, who gladly returns it.

"Mia- how did you- why- when-" he blubbers, burying his face in her shoulder, sobs racking his body.

"Douglas set me free."

"Creator set you free? Why would he do that?" Marcus asks, stepping next to Adam.

Mia's eyes grow wide, ice forming on her hand.

"Mia, don't!" Adam says hurriedly, pressing his hand to hers, and Mia clearly becomes agitated.

"Why?" She asks, glaring at Marcus.

"Because he's helping us."

Mia doesn't buy it. "Why?"

"I'll tell you later." Adam says, flashing me a look, and she nods, seeing the look in his eye.

*Mia's POV* I roll over into my sleeping bag, tired.

I fall asleep instantly.

"Good morning, guys." I say, yawning and blinking away sleep.

"Morning." Marcus says, and I don't say anything back, just nod stiffly.

"Marcus, where is Adam?"

"He went to go check for some more firewood. We ran out literally about two minutes before you woke up, Mia."

"Oh. What about Chase?"

"He's making sure the birds don't come back, and he's shooting some down with his bow and arrow as we speak. I think he's becoming paranoid."

I make a face. "Understandable."

It stays silent for a few heartbeats.

"Mia-" he tries, but I shut him up with a glare. He tries again, and I shake my head. I stop him again before he can speak.

"No, Marcus. I'm sorry, but I don't want to hear your excuses."

"I-"

My patience dwindles dramatically. "No means no, Marcus. Okay?"

He doesn't listen once again. "I'm sorry."

That shocks me, but I narrow my eyes at him. "You…You're sorry?"

"Yes. Creator would have deactivated me."

"I don't believe you." I say calmly.

"Check if I am lying, then." I stare directly into his eyes, and he isn't lying.

I sigh, still looking into his eyes. "Marcus- If you think this will change anything, it won't. I hate you. I will always hate you, do you understand me? End if story."

Hurt flashes across his eyes. "I love you."

Again, shock sets in my stomach, but I keep my face neutral. "I hate you."

"I-"

"What do you not get about apology not accepted?!" I yell at him, anger bubbling strangely calm in my blood. "Your Creator is going to kill me very, very soon! I'm going to die, and not even I can stop it!"

Marcus winces. "We're going to save your life."

"I get that. Thanks, Marcus. I'm going to see Chase." I get up and walk away, wandering off to find my boyfriend. I see his figure, his back turned to me. "Hi."

He jumps, not turning to face me, but says in a calm voice, "Hey."

"What are you doing out here?" I ask, sitting next to him.

"The Jabberjays." He says, taking one down easily just as it opens its mouth.

"Those arrows aren't gonna last forever." I say, picking at clumps of weeds.

"Not if I retrieve every single one." He says, getting up to grab the arrow out of the fallen bird. He sits back down.

"Not if I stop you first."

"Not if I tell you that I've almost gone insane."

"Not if I tell you that I am insane and suffering with anxiety, mental/emotional trauma, and numbness."

He doesn't answer.

"The 'I'll-be-nice-to-you' kind of pain is the worst. I always expect something to go wrong. And something usually does." I grimace. "How are we coming along with the daggers?" I ask, resting my head on his shoulder, and Chase's arm wraps around my waist, rubbing my skin softly and it sends shivers down my spine.

"Good. We just need War's, Famine's, and Death's."

The temperature seems to have dropped ten degrees.

"Names have power." I warn him, "so just be careful with their names."

Chase nods, and throws a knife at another one, the sharpened edge grazing it's wing before somehow spiraling downwards to hit the bird in the chest, and it falls to the forest floor, almost hidden from view because of the tall grass. It wings flap spastically and tweets weakly before it lays still, almost invisible in the dark green grass.

He doesn't turn to me, just nods. "Consider it remembered."

"Come back in five minutes, please."

He stands up, kissing me gently. We kiss for a few minutes before he pulls away, and walks to retrieve the knife from the bird's chest, before returning back to his spot, his eyes carefully watching the trees for any sign of movement, of sound. I walk away, looking at my boyfriend before heading back to the campsite.

I let my head drop against the sleeping bag when I hear Adam come back.

"Hi, Mia." He greets.

"Hi, Adam." I say, smiling at him. "Did you get a good sleep?"

"Yeah. Chase still out there?"

"Hunting the birds." I confirm.

"I'm worried about him."

"We all are." It stays quiet for a few seconds before I speak up again. "Adam…There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Whenever there's danger, I-"

I hear Marcus come back, Chase in tow, and I fall silent, not wanting to alarm my friends.

"You guys okay?" Adam asks, and Chase puts away his bow.

"Yeah, we're okay." He says.

"I had to drag Chase away from the birds." Marcus huffs, glaring at Chase, who sighs.

"Yeah. I almost shot him, he startled me. Shame that I didn't."

We ignore it.

I sigh, picking at a random clump of grass. "Guys…Can you sit down? I need to tell you something."

They sit down.

"Did you know that I have depression?"

Adam's brown eyes grow alarmed but sad. "You do? How did it start?"

I take a deep breath before beginning.

"I've been trapped in a house with an secret underground lab with a psychotic, selfish and egotistical murderer who would do anything to cause harm to me and all of you for two months with no contact with the outside world, with Uncle Douglas as the only person I've seen for two months, everyday."

"In two months I barely ate anything, but my angelic side of me was keeping me alive and fit. I barely slept because I couldn't tell what was real and what was a dream, and I couldn't tell what was real and what was a dream, and I couldn't tell if I was asleep or awake at times, being trapped in my mind. I swear I was going insane. I honestly think I am insane. I almost resorted to cutting, slicing up my skin with the blade of a knife, trying to feel something besides the worry, and the weariness. I've thought about killing myself, too. It's crossed my mind, many, many times. It hasn't left. The thoughts don't leave. And I don't think they ever will."

"Because there's always this feeling of being under appreciated, unloved, used and forgotten. We give and give everything we have to that one person until there is nothing left to give, and then we get hurt. Not that we expect a thing in return, or anything like that. It's just that it really hurts when we've been forgotten too many times after we have cared so much for them, when we are left out even when they are always on the top of our list. When it gets to the point where you'd take a bullet for them, or get your own heart broken, or when you lie about yourself, saying that 'I'm fine' to make sure that their happy, while you're left with your own dark thoughts. The fake smile washes off, and when you are left with your dark thoughts, it scares you. It scares you so much that you don't know what's real and what's fantasy anymore, where you can't tell if you're awake or asleep, or somewhere in between, and it's bad. It gets even worse, the memories and the thoughts, as time goes on. It hurts, when we actually mean nothing to them even when they're our priority. It hurts. It really does."

"Maybe there is something wrong with me, because I don't forget about people like everyone else does. I will never forget the people I care about most. They'll always be there, memorized in my brain. Everything I know about them. Other people shove the people that they cared about into the backs of their minds, and never to be thought of again. Or, you keep the people you care about most in the front of your brain, and their always on your mind, 24/7. It's kind of like a storage cabinet, where you throw away the unimportant files that you're done with or had in there for a long time, that their taking up too much space, and you get rid of them to make room for more, and you keep the ones you need, the people you care about the most are in the front, but when you throw the other files out, you don't think about it. You just do. It's human nature to forget. But I won't forget the people I care about most. Not ever."

"Because, when I truly do care about someone, I'm going to care about them for a long time. And when they don't care about me anymore, I care even more about that person. It's stupid, but I do."

"Like how you care about us." Adam says softly.

"Yes." I nod, "Like that."

Everyone absorbs this.

I stand up abruptly. "I'm going to go take a walk. I need to clear my head. I'll be back later." I say, kissing Chase's cheek before walking away.

I walk for eleven miles, stopping when I hear twig breaking makes my head snap to the left automatically. A ton of water spills across my palm in self defense.

A man, wearing all black with a red mask comes toward me, and I whip out a knife the size of a small tree branch.

He springs up to me with panther-like agility and cheetah-like speed, something that any normal human being couldn't have, taking out a dark sea-blue liquid in a syringe of some kind.

'Although, the catch is, you die every time there's danger.' Douglas's words bounce around in my mind, and I can only form one clear thought.

I am going to die.

He injects it into my arm before I can react, I just scream as loud as I can, hoping to attract my friends' and Marcus's attention, and everything goes black.

*Chase's POV* I hear Mia scream, and my eyes grow wide, already taking off, Adam and Marcus right next to me, Adam on my right while Marcus on my left.

"Mia!" I yell, running to her screams. "MIA?!"

I notch an arrow, my eyes wide.

"Chase, I found her footprints! And there's another track!" I hear Adam call, and I sprint over to him.

I curse as I recognize whose it is. "Douglas did this to her? He is so dead!"

"Come on, let's go." Marcus says, and we take off running.


	8. Chapter 9

**Mia's POV**

I groan, blinking awake.

"Oh good. You're awake." Douglas says, smirking.

"Where am I?"

"You're still in the forest."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I want you to come back home. And besides, I think it's fun to cause angst."

Mhm. That explains a lot, actually.

"What do you want from me?" I demand.

"I want you to be the perfect soldier."

Yeah. Because that'll happen, bud.

He must've seen the expression on my face, because he smirks. "It will, and very soon."

I glare at him, and he grins smugly back. "This'll teach Donnie not to mess with me ever again."

"When are you two just gonna grow up?" I demand, sitting up and resting my forearms on my knees, glaring up at him.

"I'll grow up when HE grows up!" He says like a three year old would do. I shake my head, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah. Okay."

Douglas grins at me, holding up a syringe with some type of black serum swirling around in it, and I frown, my pulse quickening as fear pumps through my blood.

"What…What is that?"

"The simulation serum. I just need a week and a half more until it's fully complete."

"Until what?" I ask, but I already know the answer.

"You're my perfect soldier. You'll be my servant, and with me forever."

"Adam and Chase won't let that happen." I snarl. Uncle Douglas rests his elbows on his knees. "Are you sure?"

I glare at him. "They will come for me."

"Really? Because they don't care about you."

My heart breaks, but I narrow my blue eyes at him again. "You are lying."

"They don't." He insists.

My eyes glaze over. "They…They don't."

"You'll be my perfect soldier, right? And you'll be with me? Always?" He asks, gently, like a grownup talking to a child, and I nod slowly, a dazed look in my eyes.

"…Always…"

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

I run around, cutting through trees with a machete and yelling her name. I'm getting worried now. I'm alone, because I told Adam and Marcus to stay there at the campsite, I'll handle this on my own.

Now I'd much rather have them with me.

I yell her name, over and over again, my heart pounding loudly from fear I think my heart will burst out of my chest.

"CHASE?!" Mia screams, her voice sounding far away.

I see another flash of her honey blonde hair, and I run to the source.

There she stands, her back turned carefully to me, like she's ready to run away again.

"Mia-"

She turns to me, tears streaming down her cheeks, and I blink in confusion. "Why did you leave me, Chase?"

"I didn't leave you." I say, very confused.

"You're lying." She says. "You left me, for two months!"

"What did I do?" I ask, incredulous. "Why are you yelling at me?"

"Oh, you know why. I saw you killing my family! Your eyes were murderous! You weren't yourself. Adam and Marcus both saw the monster you really were. They protected me through all of it! Where were you?! You kept telling me how much you loved her, how happy you were without me. You said you'd be there for me, and you lied! You lied even when you said you'd always be with me! That hurt the most. I hate you, Chase Davenport! I hate you!"

I wince at the word I hate you, but I say calmly, "Mia, Douglas put you under some kind of spell. You need to fight this!"

Mia shakes her head. "N-No! I am happier! You never cared about me. Adam cares about me. Marcus cares about me! I love Marcus, he makes me feel safe."

I blink, even more hurt. "No, you don't love Marcus. You love me."

"I never did." She snaps. "I love Marcus. Get that through your bionic brain, sweetie, and leave."

"What happened to you?" I demand, stepping up to her, about five inches away from each other. "I want the real Mia back." I say sadly, and Mia sighs.

"I am the real Mia. I realized what was holding me back. It was you."

I can feel my heart break. "H-How did I hold you back?"

"You said you love me."

"I still do."

If this bothers Mia, she shows no sign of it. "But then you talked about her," Mia winces, then sniffs, "Lindsey Waddell."

Now it's my turn to wince. When we were in middle school, I had a crush on Lindsey. I told her everything I loved about Lindsey, and she would go very quiet. Absorbing, but not really listening. She was upset, and she would shut down on me, crying for no apparent reason and not talking to me as much. She would go hang out with Adam, and that hurt. I had a small crush on her, too. But I didn't want to ruin our friendship. I was afraid.

Me, being a boy, didn't know what was wrong, and I'm supposed to be the smartest human being on the planet. I still feel guilty about it, even to this day.

"Mia-"

But Mia isn't done yet. "You never saw. You never realized how bad it really was. You never realized how tired mentally and physically I was becoming. You never realized I wasn't me. I never wanted to lie to you, but I never wanted to hurt you so badly. You wouldn't have understood. You were so blinded by love. We both were. You never realized that while you loved her that it was killing me. I knew that I shouldn't have fallen for my best friend, but I did. I knew that you wouldn't love me, and I knew that it would never work. I knew that you loved her, yet I kept thinking that maybe you would feel the same way, but you don't, and I can't change that. And for that, I hate you."

I'm crying now. Mia steps towards me, and wipes away a tear from my eye.

I take a shaky breath. "I love you. Always."

Mia looks off in the distance, away from me, looking at the decreasing sun, her face a pale shade of orange, contrasting perfectly with her tanned skin. She sighs before turning to me again, her eyes changing constantly, making me fidgety. Beautiful colors, magma red, purple, yellow, green, and blue.

"Always is a long time. Always means forever. Always means that you're happy. Alive. Free. But what happens to those promises that you said? What happens to your perfect eternity when an always gets broken? If the dreamer dies, what happens to the dream? Does it fade, or does it stay strong? What is your destiny, and can you alter it? Rip up the ending and write a new one? Can you really change your fate? The answer is simple: YOU choose your OWN destiny. You change the story, all by yourself. You always have a choice. Always are constant, until their not, and when their not…" She trails off. Her eyes turn sad. "I'm sorry, Chase. But I don't love you. …I'm going to die. Douglas has almost completed the serum. It will take about three more weeks. I know that Marcus said that it would take about two weeks, but he needs more time to complete the serum if he can't find me. The real me. If those daggers are the answer, and you care about me…Then please, don't save me. If you love me…Let me go. Just let me go."

I stare at her, my eyes wide, shock running through me. Mia doesn't want us to save her? Is she insane?

"W-Why don't you want to be saved?" I ask shakily.

"Good things happen, but not in my experience. I don't want you, any of you, to die. Rather me than any of you. Kill Douglas for me, okay?"

"Mia…" I breathe, stepping in front of her, face to face, so close our noses almost touch. "I love you."

"I know, and I did. Still do. I did. Do. Always will. But I'm sorry. I can't…I can't love you back. It's impossible for me, because…" Her eyes grow alarmed. "The serum…It…"

My girlfriend sways, and I catch her before she falls.

"The serum…It-It's killing me…"

My eyes widen. "Wait, what? No! Y-you can't die!"

I scream for Adam and Marcus, and not a second later do they appear.

"Mia!" Adam screams, running up to her and gripping her hand tightly.

She squeezes his hand before looking at them, a small smile tugging at her rapidly paling lips.

"Hey, guys…" Mia says weakly, her eyes fixing onto the clouds above us. "I-I…" She takes a painful breath. "I'm sorry it has to end like t-this…Douglas did this. H-He d-did this t-too me…" A tear runs down her cheek. "He injected a serum into m-me…Just, when I die…don't blame yourself, okay? Promise?"

We nod, and I hug her hard. I try to hold on for as long as I can, as if me hugging her will prevent her from leaving. I need to feel something besides the pain I'm feeling.

"Stay with us?" Adam and I ask at the same time.

"Always." She says, taking a small gulp of air.

She smiles at us, before she goes limp.

"No. No. No. Don't leave. Mia, you can't leave me! I love you, I love you!" I say, tears brimming in my eyes. She doesn't respond.

My bottom lip trembles slightly. "No no no no no! Mia!" I sob, burying my face in her chest, sobbing loudly. "C-Come back! Please! I love you!"

Marcus puts a hand on my shoulder. "Chase…" he sniffs, "we need to leave."

"No. S-She's gone, and it's m-my f-fault!" I sob again.

"Chase, it's not your fault." Marcus says gently.

"No. You don't understand...It is!" I say, my voice chocking up. "I killed her! How can you live with the fact that you killed someone you care about?"

Adam strokes her hair, not looking up. "It's gonna be okay. Her angelic side will heal her, and she'll be fine." It sounds like he's trying to reassure himself too.

We wait for a few more moments, and I wait, hopeful for a flicker of life.

It doesn't work.

She's dead.

* * *

><p>Adam drops down next to me, his knees buckling in grief, wrapping me up in a tight hug almost immediately. I bury my face in his shoulder.<p>

We sit in silence.

I should've done something. Anything. Done something more to save her. Maybe…Maybe, if I had been with her, I could've helped her, and stopped Douglas.

I set her down gently into the ground, wiping away a tear.

Marcus puts a hand on my shoulder, his eyes brimming with tears.

Huh. For a rapist with a too-big-of-an-ego-that-would-scare-the-FBI-and-Obama-who-lived-slash-currently-lives-with-a-psychopath-who-wants-to-destroy-us-twenty-four-seven-all-day-every-day, he does care about her.

I set my girlfriend down gently onto the ground, kissing her lifeless forehead before standing up.

Adam's arm wraps around my shoulder, and I rest my head on his shoulder, trying to feel comfort as sobs wrack both our bodies.

Marcus clears his throat, wiping his eyes quickly. We don't say anything, but just as we're about to exit the clearing, a weak cough makes my body snap around.

Mia groans, and I sprint over to her, smiling in relief as tears cloud my eyes. "Mia!"

She winces, pressing her hand to her ears and recoiling in pain. "Ow! God, Chase! Why are you yelling?"

"You're alive!"

She blinks. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? I feel rested, if anything. Hey, why am I on the ground?"

Confused, I outstretch my hand to help her up. She gratefully takes it.

"Mia," Adam says carefully, worry clear in his and Marcus's eyes, "what is the last thing you remember?"

Mia recollects her memories. "Um…Let's see…I went for a walk, and I got sleepy. I took a short nap, and you three found me."

Adam shakes his head, glancing at me worriedly. "Mia, that's not what happened."  
>Mia's confused now. "Well then what did happen?"<p>

"You died."

Mia shakes her head. "Bull."

"You did." I insist. "Douglas injected some serum into you that made you think I was the enemy."

Mia shakes her head again. "Bull." She says again, then blinks twice. "Can we get out of here? We need to find those items."

She gets up, her wings stretching out, her wings a kaleidoscope of beautiful colors that intertwine and are the right shades of colors that are just perfect no matter what angle you look at it.

She inhales deeply and exhales, whipping out a medium sized knife from her belt throwing it at a tree that's five hundred feet away out of sheer boredom. She super speeds over to it and runs back to us, the throwing knife in her hand. She tucks it into her belt, zipping up her jacket in the process in one smooth motion.

"Okay, I'm good. Let's go." She begins to walk away.

Confused, Marcus, Adam and I stumble after her, getting lost in our own thoughts.

* * *

><p><strong>Douglas's POV<strong>

I'm making a new android, because Marcus is missing. This is only a temporary one, (maybe,) until I find Mia and Marcus, and bring them home. The serum just needs a few things until it's complete, and I intend to get it as soon as possible so I can complete the simulation serum quickly and get my revenge on my big brother.

I grab some tweezers, and the android's eyes light up. It blinks lazily, once, twice, before it's eyes settle on me. It has jet black hair and forest green eyes.

"Hello, Creator. What shall my name be?"

Oh yay. I love this part.

I think for a moment. "Your name shall be…Robert."

"My name is Robert." He agrees, and we both laugh evilly.

I set the tweezers down, and I sit down in the black leather spiny chair, spinning like the child I am.

Wait, let me rephrase that. Like the child I'm totally not. Yeah, that's better.

"Okay, here's the plan…"

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

"I don't feel good Chase…" I mumble, stars swirling around my vision. "I g-gotta go." I stand up and run away from the campsite, and throw up.

What's wrong with me?

"Mia," Marcus says worriedly after I'm done puking, "you okay?"

"Yeah." I say. "I just don't feel good."

Marcus presses his cold hand to my hot forehead, and I sigh in relief at the contact.

"I'm woozy. Carry me." I mutter, and Marcus picks me up effortlessly. His body is freezing, and I'm burning. I pant, swear breaking out on my forehead.

"Guys, something's wrong with Mia!"

"N-No. I'm okay." I groan, holding my stomach.

"Are you on your um…" Adam asks sheepishly, pointing to his pelvis area and blushing a bit, and I blink.

"On my period?"

Adam blushes bright pink, and I raise and eyebrow. "Really, Adam? You can lift concrete boulders with ease and stop trains going at five hundred miles an hour with just a rope and our help but you get embarrassed when you ask about if a girl is on their period?" I tease, shutting my eyes, a small smirk on my lips.

"Shush." He mutters, and I let it go.

"And to answer your question, I'm not. I had it a few weeks ago."

"Okay, so you're not pregnant. Thank god." Adam says, sighing.

"What's happening to me?" I ask, scared.

Chase walks over to me, kissing my lips. A good, proper kiss. "I don't know, but I hope it goes away soon."

"Yeah." Marcus agrees.

It stays silent for a few seconds before I speak up.

"Guys, I didn't die." I say, narrowing my eyes at them, daring them to protest. They don't try to argue, they simply give up trying to explain whatever they have to.

I sigh, a bit peeved that they didn't answer my question. "Goodnight, guys. I'm going to bed."

We all say goodnight, and I flop down onto my sleeping bag, curling up and falling asleep in an instant.

I wonder what's wrong with me.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

I roll over, my eyes adjusting to the sunlight. It's around seven am or so. "Good morning guys." I greet my brother and Marcus.

"Morning." Marcus and Adam say, blinking awake at the same time as me.

"Where's Mia?"

"She's sleeping." Marcus says, indicating to her sleeping bag with a jerk of his head, his brown eyes sleepy.

I crouch down next to her, gently shaking her awake.

"Mia."

She turns to me, and I yell in surprise, backing up.

A toddler is in Mia's sleeping bag, her eyes blinking awake lazily, and she grins widely at me, and I can see that she has bright green eyes.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Mia?" I ask gently, trying not to set off the toddler. Having a screaming kid is not something I want to have at seven in the morning, thank you very much.

"I Mimi!" The girl says, giggling softly.

I'm so shocked, I take a step back. "Wait, YOU'RE Mia?"

"Me Mimi!" She giggles, pointing to her chest, her eyes turning a shade of purple, like a gemstone glittering.

"What happened?" Adam asks, blinking.

Mia rubs her eyes. "Feel swick. Tummy feeled funny. Shrinking. Scare. Asleep. Wakes ups. Pretty sun lite."

I understand enough of it. "Sweetie, how old are you?"

"Four's silly!" She grins innocently and holds up five fingers.

"Mia, are you an angel?" Marcus asks, and Mia nods. "Wings!" To make a point, she stretches out her wings slightly, making the trees around us move with a sudden gust of wind.

"Do you have powers?" He asks, and she nods again.

"Comes here's!" She motions to him, and Marcus makes his way over to her, wary of her powers. He has a good reason to, after all.

Mia presses her finger to his forehead, and he collapses, seemingly asleep.

Mia sedated him, and she giggles. "Powers!" She laughs.

"Mia, can you wake him up?" Adam asks, just as surprised as I am.

"Okays Addie!" Mia points to him, and Marcus gasps, sitting up.

"Yeah," he breathes weakly, "I think her powers are still here."

"Haha. You are surprised. Reads mind." She giggles, clapping.

Then she turns to me, reading my mind. "Chasey sad. Wants reals me's back. I sorry. Poison mades me's an babies."

I wince. "Sorry."

Marcus leans down to pick her up, and Mia yells, her eyes wide.

"No! Bad touching! Don't like! No more memories! Erased them, but always will be there! Scars on mind! Bad! No no no!"

Marcus immediately backs up. "Mia, I'm sorry."

Her body relaxes, but she looks wary. A rock the size of a basketball sinks back into the ground, grass covering it.

Mia was ready to throw it at him as a use of a projectile and defense to hurt Marcus, I realize.

"Okays!" She laughs, forgetting about what just happened.

Mia stands up and stumbles over to Adam, wrapping her arms around his ankles and burying her face into his jeans. "Addie! Picks ups!"

Adam bends down and picks her up, spinning her around, and Mia squeals in delight. "Yay! I's happy!"

Adam sets her down gently, and Mia stumbles over to a knife that glints in the sunlight, gawking at it, curiosity swimming in her eyes.

"Mia, don't touch that!" Marcus yelps, but Mia doesn't listen, a spark running up her little arm. She picks it up by the handle, and I freeze.

"Mia, please put that away." Adam says warily, looking scared and concerned at the same time.

Mia blinks, turning the knife in her hand professionally. "Away? Okays. I puts 'way now."

She throws it at a tree with her super speed and deadly accuracy.

It flies past us, going through four trees and sticking out of the fifth one in a perfect bullseye. I blink in shock. A four year old just threw a knife so fast and so far and with such accuracy, if she were to compete in the Olympic Games, she would have won gold right away, no questions asked.

Mia shrugs like it's no big deal, before looking up at the sky, the wind rustling her hair, moving her clothes slightly. She begins to float up, before setting herself gently back down.

"Mark!" She says, grinning at Marcus lazily. "I wants to gives hug to you!"

I have to resist the urge to laugh when Mia called Marcus, 'Mark.'

Marcus obediently walks over to her, and Mia outstretches her arms like she's going to embrace him, but she disappears from sight.

Marcus yelps in surprise, and Mia giggles from behind us. She must have used her invisibility or her Nigh-Omnipotence, or making stuff that isn't there, there.

"Haha. Tricks yew!" She giggles, and I shake my head, smiling slightly.

Mia freezes suddenly, her eyes growing alarmed, then calm. She shuts her eyes, and points to a tree. A lone, random savage flies into view, struggling and trying to get away, but it can't.

Mia walks over to it, and smiles calmly and creepily at it.

It's scary, and I've been through some scary things. But the expression on her face is probably the worst possible amount of pure terror I've experienced so far. It's not something a four year old girl should have on her face, this stone cold calm expression on her face. It's enough to make a stalker turn in the other direction and run away.

When she speaks, she sounds like the seventeen year old she is. "You hurt my friends, you have tried to kill us, take the only thing we need as a means of saving my life, and that's not okay."

She forces it to lean down to her four-year-old height, its butt up in the air, crouching, its hands clasped in front of its head, its head resting on his forearms, head down like its bowing to its master.

Mia smirks.

Fire erupts on her hand and she presses it to its forehead, gently, teasing, licking up its skin. The fire spreads and crackles onto its greasy skin, causing the things oily skin to ignite exactly like gasoline, to blister like someone blowing up a ballon full of chunky soup. It shrieks in pain, like a animal dying. Just as it's head looks like it's about to pop like a bag of popcorn, she distinguishes the fire, breathes on it, ice crystals forming out of her breath, the temperature dropping immediately, and her breath freezes the thing. She used her Cryokinesis to freeze it.

It stops struggling, and it dies, or becomes the first completely frozen ice man of all time, still alive, or just a sculpture. I don't know, and I don't want to know.

Mia snaps her little toddler fingers, and the ice sculptor explodes. There's no blood, just little chunks of ice raining down and scattering to the ground before melting into water. It's like the savage never existed.

The temperature rises again when she points to the sky. I feel the warm sunshine on my back, a warm breeze rippling throughout the spot that we stand.

My girlfriend turns to us, the creepy calm expression her face as she grins like she just had the time of her life.

Her eyes turn bright with happiness, and my stomach twists, but I just decide to ignore that feeling and stare at her, wide eyed.

"Ta-da!"


	9. Chapter 10

**Marcus's POV**

I blink, trying to wrap my head around the fact that a four year old Mia killed a grown man - thing - in less than three seconds.

Mia giggles, her eyes changing color to a fiery red, and it feels like it's burning into my soul, as stupid and cheesy as that sounds.

Mia flicks her tiny pinkie finger toward a tree, and it repairs itself. It's then I notice that there was a knife mark in it, and Mia's fixing nature.

"Okay," Adam says slowly, blinking, absorbing what just happened, "let's go eat."

Mia claps and holds up her arms, and Adam picks her up, kissing her cheek.

"Food!" She squeals, and I laugh quietly, trying my hardest to force the disturbing images and playbacks out of my head that I just saw happen.

"What do you want to eat?" Adam asks, setting her on his lap, and she snuggles close to him, nuzzling her cheek against his chest like a baby would do.

"Uh, candy!" She says, and Adam pulls out a pack of M&M's from his mission suit.

Ah, yes, snack pack holders. They were originally supposed to be used for a weapon holder, but Adam decided to use it as a snack holder incase he gets hungry on missions.

Yeah. It's very convenient for an originally-seventeen-year-old-turned-into-a-terrifying-seemingly-innocent-but-not-really-four-year-old-golden-haired-beautiful-changing-colored-eyed-and-changing-colored-winged-girl. Huh. It like something out of a horror movie.

"Hooray!" She giggles, popping one into her mouth and grinning cheekily. "Tanks, Addie!" Then she turns to Chase. "Chasey! Hwere! Want to kiss you cheek!"

Chase hesitates for a fraction of a second. "Okay." He obediently walks over to her, and Mia, still on Adam's lap, reaches up and wraps her small hands around his fingers, and kisses his cheek.

"I love you, Chase." She says, pecking his cheek again before settling down on Adam's lap.

I can literally hear Chase screaming at Mia internally that he wants the old Mia back, but Mia chooses to ignore it.

"Love you too." He says, smiling at her like he normally does, although I can see that he's wary of her. I can see it in his eyes.

"Scary man." Mia says, snuggling into Adam's shirt.

I tense up, looking around. "Sweetie, what scary man?"

"Scary man saws you don's likes me. Scary man looks like Markey Mark! But scary man bad, Markey Mark good!"

Creator.

"Creator." I mumble to Adam and Chase, and they nod.

"Marcus, can you please take Mia for a walk? Adam and I need to talk, and Mia can't be alone."

"Likes walks." Mia mumbles, rubbing her eyes and toddling over to me. She wraps her arms around the backs of my knees, resting her chin on my kneecap and looking up at me with innocent green eyes. "Walkie Markey, walkie."

I poke her belly lightly, smiling when she squeals and giggles.

"Bye bye guys." She waves her little hand before taking mine and pulling me along.

"Mia, where are we going?"

"Chasey says goes to somewhere. Going to goes somewheres."

"Okay."

We wander around for a while, until we come to a stream.

There's savages surrounding the stream, getting a drink of water, cupping their filthy hands and bringing it up to their dry, cracked, pale lips.

Mia frowns, her posture calm and cool and collected, although her eyes have the faintest hint of alarm in them. It's there, then it's gone, and her expression turns hard.

"Bad people." She says, pulling out a knife, twirling it around in her hand like she's about to throw it. I get nervous, seeing how carefree she's handling the knife in her hand. "Mia, please be careful."

She turns to me, her eyes calm, the rest of her face unreadable. "Don't worry, Markey. I gots this."

She walks up to the thing, and with her super speed, she knocks them all unconscious with a touch, and stabs them in the chest, their bodies flailing weakly into the dirt like their having a nerve spasm as blood flows freely, making the water run red in the stream.

"That was a warning. If hurt my friends, I will kill you." She smiles at the unresponsive bodies, and walks back to me, wiping the blood off of her knife with a rag.

I'll just say this again.

Four year old Mia is creepy.

"I wants to goes back now Markey Mark." Mia says innocently, and I walk back, still holding her hand as my stomach clenches from what I just saw.

Mia sits down on my lap, yawning as she wraps her little toddler arms around my shoulders.

She looks up at me with innocent liquid-ember red eyes. "Scary man says I good girl."

I freeze, and so do Adam and Chase. "Mia," I ask warily, "has the scary man been talking to you?"

Mia grins broadly. "Yep. He calleding me good whenever I hurt people! Calls me good girl. I Likes nickname, but feels bad 'cause all bloody on hands. Scaries when he talks to someone name Robbie. Sometin 'bout gud soldier."

I understand what she's trying to say, that there's someone named Robert with Creator, and Mia being the perfect solider.

Creator always did say he want an android named Robert.

He said that he wanted two brothers, Marcus and Robert. I get a violent feeling twisting in my stomach. Creator made another android in my absence, but I sense it's just a temporary one. No big deal.

Right?

I clench my jaw, but don't say anything.

"He says something about liquid in body." Mia continues. "Makes the process of serum speed up." She shrugs, and I glance at Adam and Chase. We have a silent agreement to talk about this later, or now.

Now is good.

"Mia, can you please go take a nap? The grownups need to talk." Adam says, smiling convincingly at her, and Mia nods, stumbling over to Chase's sleeping bag, inhaling his scent deeply, as weird as that sounds coming from my mouth.

"G'night." She falls asleep instantly.

I turn to them after a few minutes of making sure Mia's asleep. "We have a lot to talk about."

Chase sighs. "Well then, let's get started. First of all, why is my girlfriend four years old?"

"Douglas made her four so that Mia doesn't get in the way, trying to stop him from completing the serum. He sees her as the bigger threat, because she's the angel. That's why she's four." Adam says, and I blink, finding myself nodding in agreement.

When did he get so smart?

"Yeah," Chase agrees, then turns to me, "but Marcus, why are you helping us? Shouldn't you be the antagonist in all of this, helping him?"

I think it over for a few minutes before I finally speak. "No. I decided to leave because when Creator stabbed Mia, something inside me changed. I became nicer to her, more caring. I-I was following orders when I did all that horrid stuff. And now that she's died once…Well, I feel guilty, and I want to kill Creator as much as you all do."

My allies absorb this.

"Yeah," Adam says after a few seconds, "but Marcus, if you're helping us, wouldn't Douglas just make another android?"

I curse as I realize what he means, and the probabilities of what he said happening, or has already happened. "He already did."

Adam's jaw clenches, his eyes wide, slightly confused but alarmed at the same time. "What do you mean?"

"Creator always said that he wanted an android named Robert."

They curse as they realize what this means. Adam immediately turns to Mia's sleeping form.

"Mia, Mia, wake up." Adam says softly, his eyes full of worry.

She doesn't wake up.

"Mia-"

It's then we realize that Mia's not there, it's just an empty bag, with no Mia.

We don't hesitate, we just take off running.

We keep running, yelling her name. I don't know how far or how fast we're running, but we just need to find her.

A twig breaking makes us stop immediately, and a man wearing all black grins at us, stepping out of the shadows.

"Who are you three looking for?" He asks in an Irish accent, something that surprises me, "Someone named Mia? Well, she's right here."

He pulls someone from the tree, and it's Mia, whose been crying. Tears run down her cheeks and she sniffles, pleading for us to save her and the man let her go. I can see that her wings have been damaged, but slightly, just a feather or two stretched at an awkward angle, and it looks like it hurts, badly. Her wings are very delicate, like a sheet of glass, and if she tries to fly with broken wings, it could kill her. Damaged wings can make her navigation system goof up, and she could end up in another state, or even in a different country.

"So, what exactly are you guys doing out here?"

"We're camping out, dumbo. Leave." Mia says with minimal charmspeak, and the man frowns. "No. Sir Douglas said that I…I need to get you…so I can…" He mumbles, trailing off, his eyes glazed over.

The charmspeak breaks suddenly, and the man blinks lazily, like he's dazed and confused for a couple of seconds. Then he comes back to his senses. "That's better. He made a block on me for a charmspeaking siren like you. Now…onto the main reason why she's here, with me. Sir Douglas said to get you back, and I intend to do that, Mia. Keeping you alive would be nice, but it's not necessary. Sir Douglas would just bring you back to life and kill you again, or isolate you."

I snort quietly to myself. Creator has named himself 'Sir Douglas?' Oh my god, we're not in England or something like that, God.

Creator has become obsessed with making Mia the perfect soldier, and at what cost? So much that he hires a mercenary to do his dirty work, to kill an innocent girl?

Creator's falling off the rails of sanity.

"What is your name?" Chase asks warily.

"Paul." The man grins at us before pressing the gun to her head, and we all freeze, Mia's multicolored eyes growing wide with fear and alarm.

"Just let her go." I say in a shaky voice, and the man, Paul, shakes his head. "Nope, not happening, Marcus. Now…" His face splits open in a creepy smile, "how do you think Mia would look like if she died? If she were 'sleeping?' I think she'd look peaceful, don't you think?"

A twisting, sickening feeling knots in my stomach, bile rising to my throat as I understand what he means.

"I swear to God, I'll kill you. If you hurt her, I'll rip you to shreds with my bare hands!" Adam snarls, and I'm glad I'm on his side now, or I'd probably be dead by now if that threat came from him.

Paul ignores him. "Maybe you'll go up to heaven, Mia, when you die. Let's find out." Paul cocks the gun, and the noise rattles in my skull.

"No!" We scream, running up towards him, trying to get to him and save Mia. But it's too late.

Paul pulls the trigger.


	10. Chapter 11

**Adam's POV**

It feels as if my world crumbles down before me, and I'm falling into some dark, never ending pit of nervousness and grief and fear and pure agony.

It's like I can't hear, like I'm deaf to Marcus yelling or Chase screaming. All of that is muffled, and I can't hear anything except for the blood, which was warm, but has now run cold, in my ears, pumping softly.

I'm pretty sure I'm crying, but I don't notice any tears running down my face.

The only thing I see in my head is Mia dying, over and over again.

Mia doesn't scream, or yell. Another tear runs down her cheek, a lone one, as the bullet makes impact with her head, locking eyes with us one last time before she collapses to the ground gently, before she lay still.

My best friend who has turned four years old has been shot at point blank range with a pistol in the head, is now dead.

This man, this monster, is so dead.

I tackle Paul, sending him crashing into a few trees, going straight through them as he skids to the dirt, his clothes ripping a little bit as his knees scrape against the rocks.

Lightning swirls overhead, rain pouring down.

A bolt strikes on Paul's legs, shocking him, no pun intended.

Rock creeps up on Paul's body, locking him to the ground like a shackle of earth, so he can't move, which means he can't escape.

It must be Mia, doing this.

I hit him, not stopping when I see blood rushing out of his face. I smack him around like a rag doll, my vision tinging with red.

Marcus and Chase appear, their eyes smoldering with pure rage as they watch me hurt Paul, not speaking or daring to stop me.

I unsheathe a knife, and Chase steps up next to me, his face unreadable with the mix of emotions he has on his face. "You sure?" He asks emotionlessly, glaring at Paul's body, which is bloody.

I nod, kicking him in the gut once, a hard, sharp blow, not taking my eyes off of Paul as I wipe his blood off my knuckles before turning to my brother, and Paul breaths go ragged from the blow that I delivered. Being the strongest person in the world has it's perks, after all.

"Yeah, I'm very, very sure."

Paul grins at us, his face unrecognizable since I beat it to a pulp. His breaths are coming out in meaningless gasps.

Not like breathing will save him.

"Mia is dead," I clench my jaw so hard I think my teeth are going to crack, "and Douglas will bring her back to life and she'll kill you all. She'll kill you all!" He laughs, purely insane with fear of dying and the glee of having our best friend kill us. But that won't happen. Mia is too strong for her to break.

With that chilling note, I grip the knife and bring it down onto his chest.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

Marcus and Adam burn Paul's body with their laser visions simultaneously, and I feel hollow, like I'm numb. I turn back on them when Paul's body reduces to soldering ash and walk slowly back to Mia's body. This is the second time she's died in less than twenty four hours, one as her regular age and one as a toddler. Two times she's died, because Douglas is a self absorbed lunatic who wants Mia to kill tens of millions of people, just so he can get back at his older brother. Why don't they just go to therapy and solve their problems? It's worked for a lot of other people.

But I guess they are not not like other people.

Actually, we, meaning Adam, Mia, Marcus and I, aren't normal, either, so that's a rhetorical statement.

When I get to her, my knees buckle next to her, crying into her chest yet again.  
>Mia's body healed itself, because I think Mia knew that we wouldn't like to see the bullet hole or the blood.<p>

Paul was right. She does look younger, more peaceful.

I barely notice that Marcus and Adam stand next to me, silently waiting, just staring at her body. Waiting for Mia to wake up.

I hope she wakes up.

* * *

><p>Mia gasps after twenty six minutes of waiting for her to wake up as she bolts upright. I immediately notice that she's not four, she's the normal seventeen year old girl she is.<p>

Although something seems…off about her.

"Hi, guys." She says, her eyes confused, like their glazed over. "Why do I keep falling asleep on the ground?"

"Mia, you were four years old." Marcus says, and she nods.

"Yeah, I know."

I take a step back, my brow furrowing. "Wait, you knew that you were four?"

"Yeah. When Douglas injected the serum so I was four years old, and I was awake for all of it. Something in the serum made me stay awake, while my body was sleeping. Like I was possessed. Although I controlled my own movements, but now I'm stronger, faster, and smarter than I was before. I also became more serious, more hardheaded. Creator is making me into the perfect soldier."

Marcus looks concerned, alarmed, and weary at the same time. "Mia, did you just call Douglas 'Creator?'"

"Yes. Why? After all, he is making me…not as human." She trails off.

I swallow. "Mia, you are still human."

"Sometimes I forget." She says, then pulls me in by my shirt and kisses me gently.

We pull away, and she grins, cupping my face with her hands, smiling warmly at me.

Mia must've sent a message to Adam and Marcus, because they awkwardly clear their throat and leave, back to the campsite, I presume.

Our lips lock again, and Mia threads her fingers through my hair before kissing me gently one last time.

She gets up, stretches, and walks back to the campsite, and I follow right behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

So far I've died twice, according to my friends, but I remember only one of them, which is strange.

"Okay, we ready?" I ask, packing the last of the weapons into my bag.

"Yeah, we're ready." Marcus says, and I walk along at normal human speed.

A howl cuts through the night air, and my friends freeze, while I shake my head at them, smirking as I pull out two medium knives, and they look like miniature swords.

A pack of about fifty wolves come out of the shadows.

Not to my surprise, they talk. "What human doing here? Not place for humans."

"Stand aside, wolves, and I will not hurt you." I say calmly, and the leader, a black wolf with a white star on its chest, growls at me. I assume he's the leader of this pack.

"Threaten Pack?" He asks, and I smirk.

"Do you know who I am?"

The wolf nods, dipping his head in a respective bow, the rest following his example, their tails wagging like dogs.

"You are Bright Hands, The Healer, Trickster, The Winged Savior, Swift Girl, Strong One, The Angel, Yang and Yin, Life and Death, The Heroine, Protector of Nature, and many other titles known to animals. You are respected around the world, by all animals, even the Great Mountain Lion of legend, Odin."

I smirk again. "Really? Even Odin?"

"Ever since you were born." Pack Leader says, and I nod approvingly. "Will you let us pass?"

"We want a fight." A wolf snarls.

I arc an eyebrow, amused. "You sure?"

Pack Leader paws the ground. "Yes. And then, if you kill me, leave one of us alive. I will ask that wolf send word to Odin about your victory. I am the second strongest animal in the world, directly after Odin. He chose me to be the General of the Animal World. Let's see if you can beat me."

"Mia, their wolves." Chase says, a little freaked out by the exchange we just had.

"And I'm The Winged Savior." I smirk, "I think I can handle a few mutts. Just stay a safe distance away."

I sheathe my knives, because I won't need them.

"As long as you do not go near my friends, or harm them, or even look at them, I will fight you. Do we understand each other?"

"Understand." He confirms, and I sit down on the ground, calm, waiting, like a well, wolf.

One advances, snarling at me.

All that's left is a pile of bones, and I didn't even move an inch. I just thought bones, and the nearest wolf turned to a pile of bones.

Five seconds later, all the wolves are dead, including the General of the Animal World, except for one lone wolf.

It leaves on command, and fear of me killing it.

"I'm good. That was awesome. Let's go." I don't bother to turn to my friends, because I know their behind me, staring at me in awe.

I walk away.

* * *

><p>Marcus sighs after a few minutes of silence. "Mia, Creator says that he's turning you into the perfect soldier he's always wanted. Any idea why?"<p>

"Wold domination, mostly. Creator- Er, Douglas- wants to get back at Davenport for him always being in the spotlight. Creator's obsessed with getting back at dad, which is getting old. They need couples therapy."

I freeze suddenly, Chase coming to a halt next to me, blinking in confusion.

Adam frowns. "Mia, what's wrong?"

I hesitate, my eyes turning green. "Nothing. It's just that when I was four, I felt…More like myself, not as scared I was before I changed age. And I'm still the perfect soldier that he wants, and I don't think I can change that. I feel angrier, more bitter, but I feel like myself. I'm still me, your 'sister.', just better than I feel like I was. I'm turning evil, and I like it. And to be honest, it's scaring me."

We stay silent for a few minutes as I wait for my friends to get that into their system.

"Well, you won't be evil, Mia. They want to break you. But you won't, because your will is too strong." Adam says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I take a sharp intake of breath. "You'd be surprised."

Adam's eyes turn sad, but he doesn't reply.

"Come on," I say, grabbing Chase's hand, "lets go get that ring."

* * *

><p>"So, Susquehanna?" I ask causally. "What's there?"<p>

"Another ring and dagger." Marcus answers in the same casual voice as I did.

"Do you want me to fly you there?"

"Please." Adam says, and I nod, snapping my fingers.

The temperature gets a bit colder as I see that snow falls lightly from the sky.

"Mia-"

"No. Don't talk to me, Chase. I need to find those items." I say, not unkindly, ignoring him.

"What's up with her?" Adam asks, and I frown.

"What's up with who?"

"You. You just snapped at Chase."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." I walk away, passing Marcus, but he catches his wrist in my hand, his eyes flicking to me concernedly.

"You sure you're okay?"

"As I'll ever be." I say grimly. Marcus lets go of my wrist, dropping his hand.


	11. Chapter 12

The wind howls so loud I think I've gone deaf, the cold and the ice and the snow biting my skin through my thick furred gloves.

Marcus shudders violently, blinking as green his heat vision swirls through the darkness, and I feel like I'm in a train, staring at the headlights that cut through the darkness.

"Okay, so where is the cave?" Adam asks, shivering as another cold blast his body.

"It's not that far!" Marcus yells back to be heard over the wind. "Just a few more minutes!"

"Can we make it a few more minutes?" Adam asks, fear clear in his voice.

"We have to! We need to kill Douglas and save Mia's life!" Chase says, his brow furrowing.

"And stop him from making her into his servant!" I say. "We need to keep going. This cold is unbearable! Even I can't make it warmer, because there's no sun, and my hands are frozen solid."

Chase shudders. "Well, that ring and the dagger are both down there! They don't just magically fly! Even if I could use my molecularkinesis, my fingers are too cold and I could glitch!"

"Then we need to use our heat vision to break the snow up!" Marcus shouts, and I nod, my eyes turning the color of blue fire, signaling my heat vision. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" Adam shouts, and his eyes turn red.

We work together, red, green, and blue fire melts the snow altogether.

The combined powers of our heat vision makes the snow melt quickly, and a hole appears, large enough for anyone or anything to fit through.

"Ready?" Marcus asks, shifting his heat, preparing for the jump. It looks like a long fall.

"Yeah." I grab Chase's hand and jump down the hole.

* * *

><p>The first thing I notice when my feet touch the snow covered ground gently, making sure my friends and Marcus don't fall and possibly break something, is how the temperature dropped about twenty degrees, making it negative seventeen degrees in this ice cave. A thick blanket of snow covers the ground, crunching beneath our feet, crumbly and hard, like little needles. The walls are about three inches thick of ice sticking under about a foot of thick snow. I also notice how there's no sunlight, so I'm forced to lite a fireball the size of a paper clip, being careful not to burn everything in fear of causing a cave in. Being buried under a foot and three inches of ice and snow is not something I want to have at the moment.<p>

"God, it's cold. Let's just go find those rings and get out of here." Adam says, and Chase nods in agreement.

"Do you think it's like the last cavern, where the cave collapses or something?" Marcus asks, warily eyeing the cavern's wall.

I shrug. "I don't know, but I don't want to stick around and find out because we're staying here longer than we have to. Let's just go get the ring and the dagger and get out of here."

Adam blinks at me. "Mia, do you think you're going to…" He trails off.

"I don't know. I hope I don't die, but with my luck, it's very unlikely."

We walk for a few minutes until something red catches my eye, and it's not the fireball.

I immediately recognize it as War's ring and dagger. Both items are respectively red, the color of dark red blood, the dagger having a silver hilt and a streak of black in the daggers spear engraving.

All the sudden, I feel angry. I want to hit someone. I want to hurt someone, to break their arm and watch them squirm in pain. I blink, and the feeling is gone.

Why am I thinking these things?

"This is War's dagger," Marcus says, his fists bawling up. "He creates chaos and makes people angry. He's the horsemen of pain. He likes to see bloodshed, watch people cry in agony. Let's get the ring and get the heck out as quickly as possible."

The ring must be effecting me, because my eyes flicker to a lava red color, and fire erupts on my palms, slowly crawling up my arm.

Marcus's eyes grow wide in alarm, inspecting the walls, the ceiling and the floor for anything bad before locking eyes with me. "Mia- your hands are on fire. The dagger is effecting your emotions, so when you got mad, your hands ignited! We're in an ice cave, with a fifty seven percent chance of it collapsing if you keep it up. Extinguish your flames. Put it out, put it out now!" Marcus says, his eyes wide.

I can tell he's trying to control his anger, the anger that's coming from War's dagger combined with the ring, fueling his own anger and frustrations and sadness. From what, I don't know, but it's probably not anything pretty.

"Yeah, I know, thanks, Marcus." I say, extinguishing the flames with a blast of ice water, a small sizzle popping before the flames die out, sputtering weakly before it goes dark, except for Marcus's eyes, which glow green, providing light.

Adam sighs in relief, but I can see anger spark in his brown eyes. "I don't like this. I don't like how Douglas is trying to take over the world, trying to kill Mia, trying to kill us twenty four seven and get revenge on Mr. Davenport. They both need egotistical therapy, and a long session of it, too. An all day one. Seriously. They need to calm down. I absolutely hate when they fight over stupid things. I don't like it."

"No one does." Chase retorts, glaring at his brother, rage seething in his beautiful hazel eyes. "They both think they are so much better than us, just because their billionaires who created us! I mean, they're so worried about themselves to realize that Mia will be DYING in a few days!"

Then he blinks, alarm filling his eyes.

"War's dagger is affecting us, making us thirsty for bloodshed, igniting our anger and our paranoia like a match sparking on a trail of gasoline. Conceal your rage, don't feel. At least, for a little while. We can use that anger, on Douglas, when the time's right."

"Yeah." Adam agrees stiffly, his muscles bunching up, his biceps flexing slightly, trying hard to control the anger he's feeling. "Let's just go get the dagger. I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

I agree wholeheartedly.

"Mia, we need to hurry! The dagger is effecting you the most because of what happened to you! You need to get out of here!" Chase yelps, warily eying my hands in case they go up in flames.

"I'm fine!" I shout back at him with more force than intended, more anger filling me. I then glare at him, my wings flashing out.

But Chase won't accept it. "No, Mia, you need to leave, or you'll kill us all!"

"I'm FINE!" I yell, smacking the soft, cold, snow wall behind me. Thankfully, it doesn't break or crack.

Chase eyes it warily before turning back to me. "Mia, no! You need to leave!"

"I SAID NO!" I yell, shoving him gently. Then I turn to Adam and Marcus, who are staring at me with wide eyes.

"Mia, I'm just trying to protect you!" Chase snaps, standing up.

"I know, and I'm grateful for that." I say, my eyes turning soft. "We just need to get the dagger and the ring, and everything will go back to normal."

"Like what happened with Pestilence's dagger and ring." Marcus says.

Chase nods. "Exactly."

"So the ring and the dagger won't have the effects anymore?" I ask, and Adam nods.

Ignoring the swirling anger I have, I stand over it, my fingers about to touch the dagger.

"You ready?" Adam asks.

"Yeah." I quickly grab the ring and the dagger through my anger haze.

Chase smiles brightly. "Good job, Mia. Now-"

A loud pop interrupts him, my eyes growing wide. If you didn't have my bionic hearing, you would've not heard it.

A heavy chunk of ice falls above Adam's head, but I put it out with my heat vision.

"Hang on!" I snap my fingers, and we're above the ground, fifty feet away from the ice hole.

It crumbles like building blocks falling down, and it's like the hole never existed.

I don't feel angry anymore, but my wings hurt, badly.

"Mia, your hurt." Adam says worriedly, and I nod. "Yeah. They just hurt. I'll be fine."

I swoon a little bit, clutching my stomach.

I lean against Chase for support, who is right next to me, shutting my now dark brown eyes, and Chase wraps an arm around me so I don't fall.

"Thanks." I breathe, and his body feels warm, like a heater in the middle of, well, Antarctica.

"Carry me, Chase." I say like I'm four, and I collapse in the snow, the flakes covering my hair.

Chase picks me up effortlessly. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." I mutter. "Time to go now."

We leave thanks to me, and I peel my jacket off, crawling to the fire, Chase walking behind me, a hand on my shoulder as if to guide me.

"Thanks, Chase." I say weakly, sighing into the snow, laying on my back so I can breathe properly, my wings slowly beginning to regain feeling.

Chase looks at me worriedly, then glances at Adam.

Chase gently picks me off of the ground, wiping the snow out of my hair before I lean my head on his chest, stroking my hair and kissing my lips before I shut my eyes and fall asleep, in the middle of Antarctica.

* * *

><p>The next time I wake, I'm in a tent in the forest.<p>

Huh. Maybe Marcus super sped his way to the forests, swimming underwater with Adam's underwater breathing ability.

I immediately sit up, looking for some sense of danger, and hot water forms on the palm of my hand, ready to shoot in any direction.

"Hey Mia." Chase says, smiling down at me, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. "How do you feel?"

"Cold." I answer. "Is there any soup or hot chocolate?"

"Yeah." Chase says, handing me a blue cup of hot chocolate.

"Thanks." I say, downing it. Chase watches me, amused.

I hand the hot chocolate back to him, and he sets it down on the portable table that has 'Davenport Industries' on it.

Ah, man. Classic dad.

"Um, Chase, where are Marcus and Adam?"

"Their outside the tent. You've been out for a few hours, and they're worried you…" I understand what he's trying to say.

"How many hours…"

"Two."

I swallow heavily, blinking. That means I have seven hours to live.

I tell them telepathically that I'm okay, and I can see their shoulders slump in relief, and they move away from the tent. "I just sent them a message that I'm okay, and I asked them to move away."

"Why?" He asks, frowning.

I frown, a teasing grin playing on my lips. "What? Can't I enjoy some alone time with my boyfriend? I mean, we need to take a break once and a while."

Chase grins and walks over to me, cupping his hands on my cheeks and staring into my eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too." I say, my arms wrapping around his shoulders automatically, and Chase leans in and kisses me.

We kiss for a few seconds before Chase pulls away, pressing his forehead to mine.

I get up, holding hands with Chase as we step out.

Marcus jumps up, relief written all over his face. "Mia, you're okay!"

"Yeah." I smile.

Adam tackles me in a huge hug that crushes the air out of my lungs.

"I'm so happy you are alive!" He yells, relief clear in his voice.

"Adam…Can't breathe!" I gasp, and Adam's hug lightens up only slightly.

His arms wrap around my waist casually, before he picks me and spins me, and I laugh quietly as he kisses me forehead, and Marcus makes a disgusted noise in the back of his throat.

"Oh, gross, why do I always get stuck in the middle of this family fluff?" Marcus groans, although there's a smile on his lips.

"Because, stupid, you went with us." Chase says, and a small smile ghosts across my lips.

"Mia, you sure you're okay?" Adam asks, squeezing my hand, and I squeeze his larger one back.

"Yeah." I say, "I'm okay. I'm glad I didn't die."

Marcus nods in agreement. "Trust me," he says, "we are too."

I smile at him, then I turn to Chase. "Thanks, for saving my life."

He smiles at me. "You're welcome."

"Guess you found your knight in shining armor, Mia." Marcus says warmly, and Chase and I blush a bit.

Adam smirks, turning to Marcus. "Are you kidding?" When he nods, Adam laughs.

"Chase has always been her knight in shining armor." We blush even more.

"Adam!" I blush, and Adam smirks again. "What?" He asks innocently, "It's true."

I smack his arm playfully. "I hate you two."

"No," Marcus says, grinning at me, "you don't. You're like our little sister." I sigh, rolling my eyes.

I decide switch to topics.

"Okay, now that we have two rings and two daggers, Adam, you'll be wearing War's ring, and I'll give you his dagger, too."

Adam nods, and I hand him the dagger and the ring. The ring expands to fit on his muscled finger, sliding the dagger into a sheath in an extra scabbard.

He immediately looks stronger, his skin is a tanner, biceps rippling under his mission suit. He looks older than eighteen now, maybe twenty one or twenty two, his eyes hardening, nothing like we're used to seeing. But I can still see the flicker of the Adam we're used to seeing. He looks like he just came home from a war, whose been though a lot of nasty things. And, in a way, he has been through a lot of bad things. I blink at him in surprise. He blinks, seemingly shocked too, then nods.

"Marcus, you can get Pestilence's dagger and his ring."

Marcus nods and slips the ring onto his finger. He looks more healthy, if anything, with his hair darker and his eyes sharper, which is the opposite what Pestilence is, what he's the Horsemen of, but I let it go. I nod at him before turning to Chase.

"Okay, which ring and dagger do you want, Chase?"

"I'll get Famine's." He says.

"I'll get Death's, then." I say.

I suddenly grow fidgety at the thought of Death, and how much power he holds over the universe. He's been around since God has been, and that's saying something impressive. The Grim Reaper? Please. The Grim Reaper is only Death's apprentice. The Grim Reaper is not what mortals should be scared of. Mortals, humans, (whichever, take your pick and choose a name you want to call humans), don't know an eighth of it. Their….Normal. Leo and Tasha and Davenport however, aren't normal. Well, I shouldn't say that, because they know about us, and welcomed us with open arms, besides Marcus, of course. And, they are literally our lifeline, and if one of them slips up about our bionic secret, then Chase, Marcus, Adam and I will have to run away, in fear of being killed by the FBI or something like that. I hope we kill Douglas soon, so then we can get back to our regular lives.

Notice how I didn't say normal.

"Mia, you ready to fly there?" Marcus asks.

I nod, and Chase wraps an arm around me, pulling me close to him.

"I love you." He says. "No matter what happens to us, it was worth it."

I smile at him, and he leans down and cups my face with his hands before kissing me softly, and I lean up on my tippy toes, and I mentally curse our two inch height difference as I kiss him back with equal passion.

I pull away first, my wings stretching out slightly.

"So, where's the next dagger and ring, and whose is it?" I ask, walking at a normal pace, casual like.

Marcus looks over at me. "Famine's. It's in White Forest, in Alaska, where there are forests and little towns. We're in northern eastern Washington as of now."

Huh. Time flies when you're trying to save your own life, as dumb as that sounds.

Nobody says anything about it, we just walk in silence, avoiding the topic.

"Mia," Marcus says nervously, stopping in his tracks. "your wings…"

It's then when I notice lightning is swirling around them, sending out literal shocks to my friends, making them stop in their tracks, probably causing their movements to glitch.

I quickly stop the sparks, swallowing and casting a sheepish glance at my friends.

"I'm sorry."

Adam regains his footing. "So how do we get there?"

"Grab on." I instruct.

They do, and we're in Alaska, in a forest, which I assume is where Famine's ring and dagger are.

Almost instantly, I can feel the daggers power seeping into my brain, making me crave random things. Seeing my family again after two long months of being…empty.

And most importantly, Chase.

Chase turns to me, his eyes looking a bit dazed. "You feel that?"

I nod, resisting the urge to kiss with Chase. Instead, I do a once-over of Chase, to try and calm myself down. His hazel eyes are beautiful, a soft glow like he's an angel, his clothes hugging all the right places, especially his arms, his chest, his waist, and his stomach, showing off his toned, beautifully sculpted muscles. Oh yes, training and the hundreds of missions we've been on has been very, very good to him.

I stare at him, my eyes drinking him in clothes wise.

His hair is spiked, just the way I've always it, the way I've always preferred it. He's wearing a plain blue t-shirt covered by a bright blue plaid button-up, left open and rolled up at the sleeves, and he has black skater jeans that were ripped in various places; on his feet are black-and-blue Supra high tops.

I really, really want to kiss him. So, so badly.

What's gotten into me?

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

She looks incredible. There. I said it. And that's to put it lightly. Anything else I would say about how beautiful my girlfriend is…Well, out of line.

She's wearing a pair of denim shorts that left a majority of her long, toned, tanned legs bare, giving me a real nice view of them. And on her delicate feet were a pair of red heeled leather boots with a wrap around strap at the ankle that looks amazing on her. Then there was her top. It's a plain white shirt, but it hugs her body in all the right places.

Most people would have looked strange, wearing what Mia's wearing, but it looks perfectly natural on her.

Her hair is in a side ponytail, a few pieces having escaped and framing her face perfectly like she had purposely done it. She's not wearing any makeup, because she didn't bring her makeup kit, (I mean, why would she, because we are fighting for our lives since we got here,) but she looks amazing without it.

She's a vision, a pure goddess of perfection, and I can't help but stare.

I'm faintly aware of Marcus and Adam stepping away, to give us some space, or off to find the items. I don't know, and I don't care right now.

Mia steps shyly to me, biting her lip, her eyes changing to a doe brown eye color.

"You look…Wow." I manage to say, and Mia's blush gets deeper.

"I could say the same to you." She says softly, and wraps her arms around my back.

Mia looks at me. "Chase-"

"I know. I know. I love you too." My hands hover above her waist, not touching her but teasing at my hands closeness.

Her lips press onto mine, and she sighs. I shut my eyes at the same time she does and run a hand through her soft blonde hair.

'This is bad this is bad this is bad.' I can hear myself say, but I don't care. I ignore the little voice in the back of my head.

'If you do this, what will Davenport and Leo and Tasha and Marcus and Adam think?'

My eyes open at the thought, but I kiss her harder, ignoring the thought.

'What if you hurt her?' I stop kissing her all together now, my eyes growing wide.

We pull away, and Mia's cheek presses against my chest.

She breathes in and out. "Come on, let's go catch up."

We sprint over to Marcus and Adam.

"You guys okay?" Adam asks, an eyebrow raised in slight suspicion.

"Yeah, we're good." I say.

"Okay. So, we ready to go?" Marcus asks, taking his hands out of his jean pockets, looking completely innocent and casual. If we didn't know how evil he is, it would seem like he's innocent.

Haha. Right. 'Innocent.'

"Yeah." I say, squeezing Mia's hand gently.

"Come on," She says, sweeping a lock of hair out of her face, "let's get going."

We take off running in the direction of Famine's dagger.


	12. Chapter 13

**Mia's POV**

"Adam, can you see anything?" Marcus asks, frowning a little bit as he glances over at my best friend.

He blinks, looking back at Marcus, everything about him, his body language included, sarcastic. "Uh, let's see. There's a lot of trees because we're in a FOREST. A few birds. Nothing much. No dagger or ring anywhere in sight. Anything else you need me to see, Marcus?" He snaps back to him, not bothering to turn around.

We're shocked, to say the least.

He shrugs carelessly, forgetting about the mood swing, like it doesn't matter.

"Adam, have you been feeling angry lately?" I ask carefully.

"Yeah. Must be the items, making me feel this way. It's heightening my bionics, filling me with sarcasm and adrenaline and rage. I feel like I just came back from a war. I don't really like it, but I need to keep the items on, because God knows if anything happens to them, or if I loose them somehow…" He doesn't need to finish the sentence.

"Right." Chase mumbles, and we all keep walking.

Famine's dagger is effecting me too. Food. I want food.

Adam grabs another granola bar out of his mission pocket that was made for a weapon, and munches on it.

"I'm hungry." He mutters, and I blink. "Famine's tapping into our wants, our needs. Let's just get out go get the ring and that and get out of here."

As if the wind is pushing us back, it's harder to see. We have to squint just to see a foot in front of us.

Chase stumbles, but I catch him.

"Are you okay?" I yell over the wind.

"Yeah, I'm okay!" He yells over the wind. "Why is this wind happening? This doesn't make any sense!"

"I don't know. Maybe it's Famine doing this!" Marcus yells. "Mia, can you stop the wind?"

I hold my hand out, fingers stretched, palm outward. I set my hand down after a few seconds, nodding. "Famine's natural habitat is a forest, because the dagger is dark green! I can stop the wind! It's sixty knots, and I can dial it down to maybe a ten or fifteen."

"Please do it." Chase says through gritted teeth.

I snap my fingers, and the wind immediately dies down.

"We okay?" Marcus asks.

"Yeah." I say, coughing, my eyes darkening slightly.

"Mia, Famine's dagger is-" Marcus says quickly, but I look over at Chase.

"Chase."

"Mia."

"No kissing!" Adam yells, gently pushing us away from each other.

I blink, coming out of my daze. "Okay. Sorry."

"Come on," Marcus says, suddenly excited, "I see the ring and dagger!"

We sprint over to it, and Chase's hand hovers over it. He grabs it, then looks over at Marcus.

"That was…surprisingly easy."

"Yeah, but the wind pushed us back. It stopped us for a few minutes, a few minutes that we don't have to waste. Every second counts."

Every second does count.

* * *

><p>I frown when I feel something burn in the back of my throat. It gets more intense by the millisecond.<p>

"Do you guys feel that?" I ask, coughing rapidly, trying to get the burning sensation out of my throat.

Chase nods. "Yeah. It smells like-"

"Gasoline!" Adam says, his eyes wide.

"RUN!" Chase yells, already on the move.

We take off, Marcus super speeding along, making sure that there's no fire.

A fireball the size of an apple blazes across Marcus's left shoulder, missing him by merely four inches.

Smoke curls thick in my eyes, and when it finally clears, I realize something that almost makes my heart stop completely in my chest.

Somewhere along the way, we lost Adam.

* * *

><p>'Marcus, get Chase out of here! We lost Adam! I'm going to find him!'<p>

Marcus looks at me, his eyes wide. 'Just…be careful!'

'Don't worry about me! Just go!'

'I'm not leaving without you!' Chase joins in.

'And I'm not leaving without Adam!' I counter.

Chase hesitates. 'Fine. Just…Please hurry.'

I super speed away, into the inferno. I don't bother to breathe, because I don't need to.

I scan the area with my super sight senses, and I find my 'brother' trapped under a slightly burnt log, about five hundred yards away.

The flames get more intense, like a wall that's chocking me.

"Adam!" I yell, momentarily forgetting about the thick smoke that curls around me. I get a good look at him, peering through the flames.

His face is dark with soot, but other than that, he looks okay. Our mission suits can survive in extreme heat well over three thousand degrees Fahrenheit. He looks scared.

Well, in a forest fire, trapped under a slightly burning log, who wouldn't be? It's human nature.

My best friend keeps trying to shove the log off of him, but he can't.

My eyes grow wide. "Adam!"

He looks over at me with panic stricken eyes.

"Mia!" He yells hoarsely, his eyes panicked.

I douse the flames with a blast of cold water, spraying the rest of the flames from the forest out with my long range abilities.

I pick up Adam with my super strength, (because bionic boys are heavy,) and super speed to Chase and Marcus.

"Adam!" Marcus yells, flipping him over into his back carefully, making sure that he's fine and not injured in anyway alarming. He's okay, his face is just a bit dirty from the soot.

My best friend groans suddenly, and his eyes open. He stands up wobbly, leaning against Marcus for support. "Ow ow ow ow ow. God, I could use some burn cream. Anyone have it on them?"

Chase sighs in relief. "Adam-"

Adam cups his hand to his ear, a playful grin touching his lips. "Sorry, I can't hear you from down there. What was that?"

Chase has the decency to look annoyed.

"I hate you." Chase mutters, and he punches Adam's upper arm. Adam, in return, punches Chase in the chest, not hard to knock the wind out of him, but to get a rise out of him.

Marcus and I share a look, a small smirk on my lips, Marcus's eyes light from what's happening.

Teenage boys will be teenaged boys.

Chase glares at him, and Adam's jaw locks, the little spot in his jaw jutting out slightly.

He looks a lot scarier than he did before he put War's ring on and sheathed War's dagger in a scabbard He doesn't look as innocent as he did before. He does look older, but, like I said before, I can still see some of the old Adam, the funny, happy Adam, sparkle in his brown eyes. This new Adam would definitely make a bully or kidnapper or anyone else turn in the other direction and run like mad.

"Guys, stop it." Marcus says with his own charmspeak, and my friends stop.

"Right. Sorry." Adam mumbles, blinking.

"So Chase, now that we have Famine's ring and dagger, do you want to put it on?" Marcus asks slowly, and in baby talk, as if talking to a two year old.

"Shut it." He mutters, but slips on the ring and the dagger.

My boyfriend looks taller, like he grew five and a half inches, so Adam can't make short jokes anymore, but I know my best friend will still taunt my boyfriend.

His appearance changed, too. His hair is the same hairstyle, spiked up and perfect, like he stood in the mirror and perfected it, his clothes still fit perfectly, he looks more muscular, and he looks happier. He doesn't look as scared, he looks confident, better, and, well, purely amazing. He'll never cease to amaze me, that's for sure.

I'll probably get a lot of nasty glares from the girls at school, and boys will try and flirt with me even more than they did before, and we'll both just shrug all them off. Leo encourages me to get onto the cheerleading squad because with my good looks, so he could flirt with them. But I told him that I would not turn into an airhead and turn into a bad word that starts with a 'B', just for popularity, and Leo would respect my choices. Because, after all, family sticks together. Besides, if I were to become popular, Caitlin and my friends might treat me differently, treat me like I'm a stowaway in a boat, like I'm disgusting and disease ridden vermin, and I don't want that. I'm happy with my life, thank you very much.

Marcus turns to me warily, alarm clear in his eyes, something I've grown used to seeing, which also alarms me. "Okay. So…Mia, how long do you have until you…"

"Seven hours, three minutes, and twenty nine seconds to live." I hesitate. "That depends on how long it'll take to get to Mountain Nyerere."

Adam's brow scrunches. "Why don't you just fly there, like we've done all the other times?"

"Because Death's dagger is preventing me from flying there. I think Death took some extra precautions, in case any mortals or bionics were to steal his items."

"Well, this is gonna be fun." Chase mutters, and I nod in agreement grimly.

"So, shall we get going?"

"Yeah. Lets go get that dagger and ring."

I grab Chase's arm and super speed away.

* * *

><p>"Where exactly is Mountain Nyerere?" Adam asks, walking along the road, his eyes alert for any signs of danger.<p>

"It's in Ohio." Marcus says. When Adam opens his mouth, Marcus shakes his head. "It's hidden to mortal view, but not angelic and bionic view."

"So, how are we going to get there? I can't fly there, because of Death and all."

A noise beeps in my ear. I switch on the comset.

Dad laughs. "You won't have to. I'm sending a helicopter to you guys now."

As soon as he says this, I see a helicopter speed towards us, driven by Mr. Davenport himself.

"Hop in!" He calls, sliding the door open, the wind from the helicopter whipping our hair, making my blonde hair seem like whips, stinging my cheeks.

Just to make sure, I check if that's really Mr. Davenport, not Douglas in disguise, wearing a cyber-mask.

It's not. It's actually Mr. Davenport, thank god.

I see Leo in the seat next to him, looking like a kid that just was told he is going to Disney Land.

This is not a vacation, thank you very much.

I feel a small tingle at the back of my neck, and my eyes grow wide. "Guys…I think I'm glitching." I mutter, and as soon as I say this, I start to feel a sharp pain in my head, slowly licking throughout my head.

I lean against Chase for support, and Chase rubs my back in an attempt to make me calm down. I shudder, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"Mia, do you know what's making you glitch?" Marcus asks, and I shake my head.

"No. It might be Death. Maybe he's tapping into my bionic chip, checking to see if I am worthy to have his ring and his dagger." A small buzzing noises rattles my head, signaling that he's done. "He said 'I'm done.' So now, that he's done, I'm deemed worthy." I say, nervous.

"Guys, get some sleep." Mr. Davenport says gently, then turns to a Davenpad.

"Hey Eddy, can you get them food?"

"Yeah, I'll get the princess and the princes and the evil dude some food. Sir yes sir." He mocks.

"Eddy, do not make me deactivate you." I threaten, and Eddy makes a sarcastic noise in the back of his throat. Well, if he had one, that is.

"Fine."

A tray of our favorite food appears on a table in front of us, ready to eat.

"Thanks Eddy." Marcus says, and Eddy shuts himself off.

Adam turns to me. "Mia, are you still glitching?"

"Yeah." I say through gritted teeth. "Lets just get there. Mr. Davenport, how long do you think it will take for us to get there?"

"A few hours. Four or five hours at the most."

I stifle a groan. "I may not have a few hours." I say, leaning against Chase's chest.

"We'll make it." Adam says confidently, pushing his plate away, everything gone.

I pick at some french fries, and I have a suspicion that Eddy poisoned it. I decided to throw it out after a few minutes of staring at it.

"Mia, get some sleep. I have a feeling you'll need it." Chase says softly, resting his cheek on the top of my head, looking out the window of the helicopter, and he looks back down at me. "Don't worry. I'll make sure I'll wake you up when we get there."

I start to protest, but he shakes his head, looking at me with classic puppy dog eyes.

"Please?"

I sigh, and shut my eyes, falling into a deep sleep.


	13. Chapter 14

**Leo's POV**

"Hey, guys." I say, turning back to them.

What I see makes a lump in my throat randomly appear. A quiet _aw_ escapes me before I can stop myself. I see Chase holding Mia in his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head.

I turn back to dad, a small grin on my lips. "They are really cute together."

Davenport nods, looks back at the sleeping couple, turns back, and he looks like he's aged three or four years in a few seconds. "Yeah," he agrees, "they are."

I look at my father worriedly. "Are you okay, Big D?"

He nods, not keeping eye contact with me. "Yeah. I can't believe how much all of you are growing. It's making my head spin."

I nod in agreement. Even Adam has been wiser, even without the ring on. I think we've all become older, to be completely honest.

"And," he adds, "it's just that Marcus wants to-"

"-Kill your brother, his Creator, who forced Marcus to do you know what to Mia, captured Adam, Mia and Chase, tried to make them into Bionic Soldiers, who forced Marcus to try and kill me multiple times, who also, mind you, destroyed your lab, along with Eddy. We're lucky/unlucky that Mia put a force field around him, in case something like that ever happened. I'm glad he's alive and all, but I think he's less annoying now, and he actually…cares about her, despite all his protests."

He blinks, and I continue.

"Mia is scared, Big D. And she has a good reason to be. We all have a good reason to. If Mia dies, I'll be crushed. If she dies, I'll have lost a sister. And there's a new threat looming. Another android named Robert. I know he's your brother and all, but if you think about it, he's purely insane."

My step-father grows silent, then turns to me again. "When did you get so observant?"

"When Mia was first captured, all those months ago. I became more….Observant."

Davenport laughs gently. "Yeah. And I became less arrogant."

I arc and eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

Davenport shrugs, and I leave it alone.

It stays quiet for a few seconds before he says, "I certainly don't feel like I'm thirty eight."

Now it's my turn to laugh gently. "I feel like I'm twenty nine and a half, when in reality, I'm only fourteen. How do you think Adam, Mia and Chase feel?"

His face darkens. "Yeah." He says quietly, "Right."

"If the daggers and the rings are the answer, do you think they'll put an end to this? Once and for all?"

Davenport shrugs helplessly.

"And are you alright with it? Them ending Douglas's, your brother's, life?" I ask. "Do you think they'll be able to do it? Kill Douglas?"

Davenport's shoulders slump, and he looks tired, probably the worst I've ever seen him become this tired.

He takes a sharp intake of breath, something that shocks me so much I stop to stare at him. He looks about sixty seven years old now. He just looks defeated, all his sense of superiority and confidence vanishing within two or three seconds, replaced by a weary and scared father, something I'm not used to seeing. This adventure is taking a lot out of us, physically, mentally and emotionally, that's for sure.

Big D doesn't lock eyes with me, and he looks like he is going to regret his next words.

"Yes, Leo. It bothers me to say this, bothers me to my core, my very being, but I think they will end his life, put a stop to all this. I think, no, I know they will. They've come too far to stop now. They'll kill him to save Mia's life. They'd do anything to help her. They'd do anything to help each other, and that includes Marcus, now, too. At least, I think so. Maybe. That depends. Sometimes I think they love her too much."

"Whatever it takes." I say in an monotone voice.

"Yes," he agrees, "whatever it takes."

Silence.

* * *

><p><strong>Marcus's POV<strong>

I stare out the window, watching the clouds fly past us. Adam looks over at me, his expression guarded, or blank. I can't tell. Maybe a little of both. It's hard to tell with Adam's expressions, especially since he's gotten War's ring and dagger.

"What?" I ask, frowning slightly. "What's wrong?"

Adam looks away. "Nothing."

I frown even more, my eyes searching his. "You sure?"

He hesitates. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"You're lying." Mia says, looking over at Adam with sleepy, bright gold eyes, so bright that it should have a warning label reading: Warning: Do not stare directly, may cause blindness.

What, androids can't have a sense of humor too?

Adam jumps. "Uh…"

"What's wrong?"

Adam hesitates. "It's just…What if Douglas expects that we have the rings and the daggers? What do we do then?"

"We still kill him." I say in a steely voice.

Chase hesitates. "Marcus, you sure?"

I nod, making up my mind. "Yes. I'm sure."

It stays silent for a few minutes.

"Does anyone have the time?" Mia asks, blinking.

"It's 11:34 at night. Why?"

Mia's eyes widen. "Oh no."

"What? What's wrong?" I ask, panicking.

"Just wondering." She says, her eyes filled with panic.

"We'll make it." Chase says, taking her hand, then turns to Davenport. "Mr. Davenport?"

"Yes?" He asks, turning toward Chase before turning to the controls again.

Adam, Chase and I grin. "Fly faster."

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

Mia stares blankly at the window, and I can see something's bothering her.

"You okay, Mia?" I ask gently, and she nods, not turning to me. "What? Oh, yeah." She says, swallowing, her eyes changing to black momentarily before changing back to a clear shade of blue.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?"

She becomes guarded. "What about?"

"I don't know. Anything."

She laughs without humor, no playfulness in her eyes. "I'm going to die in less than six hours," She says grimly, "what is there to talk about?"

I shake my head vigorously. "You're not going to die."

Her eyes turn a shade of white momentarily. "I am."

"No," I say, shaking my head, "you're not."

Mia shakes her head. "I am, Chase. I've made up my mind. I'll be Douglas's perfect soldier."

"Mia, no. We can't stop now. Not after all we've been through. Not with what we're going through at this exact second. I can't loose you permanently."

"You'll have to live with it." She says softly.

"No." I say firmly, shaking my head again, placing my hands on her shoulders. "I'm not letting you."

Mia kisses my cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Mia, I said no. Why do you keep sacrificing yourself?"

"I do that because I want to keep you all safe." She says gently. "You know I'd take a bullet for you. Sometimes, I think I'm too loyal to my friends."

"Why are you?" I ask, frowning.

Mia shrugs. "I don't know. I just want you guys to be happy."

I look at her with soft eyes. "And what about you?"

She shrugs again. "I don't need happiness."

I scoot closer to her, taking her hand in mine.

"If you're happy, I'm happy. To the world, you are just someone. But to me, you are the world. And if I loose you, I don't know what I'd do with myself."

Mia smiles at me, holds my hand, then turns away from me.

*Mia's POV* I rest my head on the window, getting lost in my thoughts.

I feel Adam's eyes on me, looking at me in concern. "Mia-"

"I'm fine." I say in a soft voice.

I glance over at Marcus, to see that he's talking quietly with Adam, their gazes flicking to me concernedly once in a while.

I don't bother to tune in, because if Adam and Marcus are talking, and not trying to kill each other, then they must be becoming friends, reestablishing their friendship. If their not becoming friends, then their allies.

"Mia," Chase says, and I look over at him. "Yeah?"

"We'll make it."

I nod. "Okay."

But on the inside, I'm rapidly losing faith that we'll make it.

* * *

><p>An hour later, I see Leo turn around toward us. "We're here. We are landing in about two or three minutes. We all ready?"<p>

"Yeah." Marcus says, "we are."

Dad grins. "Good. I'll drop you off near Mountain Nyerere."

Leo and dad turn to each other. "Good luck, guys."

I take a deep breath as I grip my friends shoulders, Marcus's hand on top of Adam's, and we fly down with my flight powers.

It takes a minute for us to realize that I can see the helicopter 40,500 feet above us, I wave, though I doubt Leo and dad can see us from down here.

We watch as the helicopter flies away until it becomes a dot in the horizon.


	14. Chapter 15

I click my watch on, and it flashes 3 hours and 15 minutes, signaling how much time we have to find the ring and the dagger, and how much time I have left to live.

"Okay, so, does anyone have any idea where we are?" Adam asks, taking in his surroundings.

I do a mental scan, and I see that we're in a little town called Lorain, Ohio, population 70,286 people as of this very millisecond, actually.

"Lorain, Ohio." I answer, then begin to walk.

"Okay, how long do you think it'll take us to get there?" Adam asks, scratching his head, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"A few minutes. It's 56,983 miles away, on the other side of the state, hidden by mortal view. But now, since I have Death's permission, we can get there easily."

"Well, how are we- Oh." Adam finishes his own sentence.

Marcus and I share a grin.

* * *

><p>It takes exactly two minutes to reach the entrance to the hidden volcano.<p>

* * *

><p>"Okay. Let me go in first." I say, blinking.<p>

Marcus starts to protest, but I cut him off.

"I'd rather go." I say, pressing my hand to Marcus's chest as a means to stop him.

"I'll go in first, since I'm qualified."

I take a deep breath, steeling myself for the sure intense heat sure to come. I glance at my friends for a few seconds, and they nod, stepping back. Chase looks hesitate, but I nod at him firmly again.

I walk into the secret entrance without another word.

* * *

><p>It's dark, and hot. Well, obviously, because I'm inside a volcano mine shaft. I still don't know how there's a mine shaft in here, because the volcano is hidden by humans view, but I ignore it. I can survive heat up to five thousand degrees, so I'm not even breaking a sweat.<p>

I can hear Adam, Marcus and Chase enter behind me, nervously looking back.

The spot where we entered is still there, surrounded by a thin ring of magic. I step in and out of it, and I come back in after making sure that Death still made it there. It's there, thank God.

I catch up with my friends.

"Whoa." Adam says, his eyes wide. "What is this place?"

"We're inside a volcano, Adam." Marcus answers, scowling slightly. "You didn't know that?"

Adam scoffs. "I knew that." He looks at the mine walls, that are dark red, obviously.

We walk for a few minutes before I hear Chase call from up ahead of us.

He got so excited, he ran ahead of us. Marcus told him not to go far, and he listened. Chase listening to Marcus is a new one. Usually, they'd be trying to tear each other apart, but I don't think that's the case. If anything, Chase and Marcus are reestablishing their friendship.

Well, as close as a friendship will ever be between these two.

"Hey, guys, look at this!" Chase says, pointing to a mine cart. I sprit over to it, and I see one of those old mine shafts, where it's just one rail track, surrounded by a large cave/cavern. The box is metal and wood, with two benches, big enough for all of us.

"It's large enough for four of us." Adam says.

Marcus eyes it nervously. "Is it safe?"

I nod, hearing Death's voice in my head, telling me that it's completely safe.

"How do you know?" Marcus asks.

"Death told me."

Nobody says how odd that is. I'm trusting _Death_ of all people. Things. Supernatural beings. Whatever.

Chase shrugs. "Okay. Good enough for me."

Marcus and Adam hop into the cart, Adam helping me in. Chase frowns. "Mia-"

"Come on, Chase!" I say, patting the seat next to me.

He hesitates. "Fine. I'll push the cart with my molecularkenisis."

He hops in, gets settled in, and holds out his hand. The cart squeaks slightly as the wheels start moving.

"Just like a roller coaster." Chase mutters.

"Yeah," Marcus agrees shakily, "minus the seat belts, safety harnesses, attendants, and making sure everything is in tip top shape. Yeah, just like that."

Adam nods grimly, his knuckles clenched in tight fists. "And, we're running out of time."

"Guys," I say, "we'll be fine."

"Yeah, because you trust Death." Adam says, his brown eyes alarmed. "_Death_ of all people. I'd be careful."

Chase starts moving the cart forward. Marcus grips the sides of the cart so hard his knuckles turn white. "We're going to die!"

"No, we're not!" I answer firmly.

The cart skids to a stop, stopping at the top of the hill. I see how the track is a rather thick line, about seven or eight inches thick, and the open air, and I see how the air is trapped, clattering around the cave's walls.

I suck in a deep breath. "You guys ready?"

"Y-Yeah." Marcus mutters, his usually tanned face pale, "we're ready."

Chase takes a deep breath, and pushes the cart forward.

* * *

><p>Have you ever felt like you're floating up in the air? And I don't mean in the love at first sight kind of way, either. Like you're actually, physically floating, you're body weighing nothing like you're in space kind of deal.<p>

I've done it before.

And it's absolutely terrifying.

Adam shouts in fear and stutters out a curse as the cart tilts to the side, but Marcus, Chase and I stop it with our telekinesis, our breathing heavy from the heat of the volcano and the effort to stop this cart from falling into an ocean of lava and pain.

"Guys," Marcus yells to be heard over the wind, "the track-"

"The track what?" Chase demands.

"The track has a gap in it!"

"WHAT?!" Adam yells, his eyes wide with fear.

"Brace for impact!" I yell, wrapping my friends up with my wings, that are as hard as a diamond.

A fireball the size of an orange flickers past my eyes, but I take it out with my ice vision.

The cart flies off the tracks.

* * *

><p>For a minute or two, I feel weightless, and then a loud crack, signaling we're back on the rails. Another ear slipping crack and I turn to see that the rest of the track has been smashed to pieces by a spew of lava that rose up from the ground.<p>

No going back now.

Adam breathes in and out. "Is everyone… Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah. We're okay." Marcus says, taking in a shaky breath.

We ride for a few seconds before I hear Death's voice in my head, and my eyes grow wide as I understand what he means.

The wind whips my hair, stinging my cheeks and eyes as I turn to my friends. I have to shout to talk to them over the wind. "Guys, Death says that the track will end. If we jump at the correct time, we can safely make it onto the ground."

"What happens if we don't?" Chase asks.

I hesitate as I look at my boyfriend, then Adam and Marcus's eyes. I see the fear in their eyes. "Try…Try to time it right."

"That's reassuring." Marcus mutters, exhaling shakily.

I grip my friends hands, Marcus's hand going on my shoulder.

"Ready?"

"_Oh Jesus_." Adam whispers, shutting his eyes, then reopening them. "Yeah, we are."

"Three…Two…One…Jump now!" We all do at the same time, rolling onto the dark gravel ground.

I groan, blinking away white, buzzy spots from my vision. Adam, Marcus and Chase look dazed and sick. I must look like them.

We sit there in silence for a few seconds, trying to catch our breath and wait for the world to stop tiliting like someone just spun us around too fast. I fight down a small wave of nausea and focus on not passing out.

I take a deep breath to try and steel my nerves again.

Chase breaks the silence "Okay, s-so where's the dagger and the ring?"

I help my friends up before turning to Chase. "Follow me."

We keep on walking deeper into the volcano.

* * *

><p>"How long have we been walking for?" Marcus asks, a bead of sweat tumbling down his neck. He wipes it away in annoyance.<p>

"I don't know. A few minutes, maybe." Chase answers.

"It's hot and my feet hurt." Adam complains, and Marcus scowls. "No, really? I never would have guessed it was _hot_ in a _volcano_."

Adam shoots him a glare. "Why don't you shut up?"

"Why don't you become smarter?" Marcus counters.

"Why are you so mean?"

"Because you're dumb."

"That wasn't even an insult!"

"At least I can think of an insult! All you can come up with are short jokes!"

"Hey!" Chase protests, but Adam and Marcus ignore him.

"Okay, you know what-"

"Guys!" I yell, ignoring the short comment that was directed at Chase.

"What are you, three years old?" Chase demands.

"Try asking Adam that." Marcus mutters, and Adam rolls his eyes.

"Why do I feel like we're watching over children?" I ask.

"Because they are." Chase smirks.

"Hey!" Marcus and Adam protest, and Chase and I chuckle.

"It's true, though." I say, poking Marcus's cheek lightly.

Marcus glares playfully at me, rolling his eyes as he keeps walking, occasionally wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Guys, Death says we're getting close." As soon as I say this, dread washes over me.

Oh boy.

* * *

><p>I begin to think things over truly, not shoving the dark thoughts into the back of my mind like I usually do.<p>

What's the point in living? I'm already dead. If we don't succeed in getting this ring and this dagger, I can kiss my life goodbye.

It takes me a minute to realize something. I don't know why I hadn't realized this before. Maybe it's because I pushed the thoughts in the back of my mind. I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I can see everything so clearly now.

There's a difference between giving up, and knowing when you've had enough. I'm not giving up. I'm letting go of myself. I can't be here anymore. I can't face the days without feeling pain. It's hard enough to be here for even one more second. I don't want to be here anymore. It doesn't feel like it's worth it.

People don't understand. People think depression is sadness. People think depression is crying. People think depression is dressing in black. People are wrong. Depression is the constant feeling of being numb. Being numb to emotions, being numb to lie. You wake up in the morning just to go back to bed again. Days aren't really days; they're just annoying obstacles that need to be faced. And how do you face them? Through medication, through drinking, through smoking, through drugs, through cutting. When you're depressed, you grasp onto anything that can get you through the day. That's what depression is, not sadness or tears or these strange mood swings, it's the overwhelming sense of numbness, and the desire for anything that can help you make it from one second to the next. Grasping onto something that takes the pain away is easy to do.

But sometimes it isn't easy, and those days are the worst.

"Guys," Chase says warily, his eyes seemingly broken, but alert at the same time. "Whatever you do, do not give into the emotions you are feeling!"

"Death is tapping into our darkest thoughts. Let's just get the ring and get the heck out of here." Adam says, and I nod in agreement, trying to ignore the waves of dread and agony that wash over me.

"Okay. I know where to go." I say, "Follow me."

* * *

><p>We keep on walking until I see the dagger and the ring on a silver pedestal.<p>

The dagger is pure diamond, with an obsidian colored hilt, with a lightning bolt just where the hilt meets the beginning of the blade, with the symbol for water, earth and fire going upwards in a spiral endlessly where it stops at the tip of the dagger. The ring has a small white bow on the top of it, made out of pure diamond that's absolutely beautiful.

"There they are!" Adam says, grinning, about to take off and run over to them, but I stop him.

"No. Let me do it."

Adam opens his mouth to protest, but then closes it. "Fine."

I sprint over to it and grab it, and Death's voice stops in my head.

* * *

><p>When the cave starts to crumble beneath our feet, I, calmly, fly out of there with my friends in tow.<p>

* * *

><p>We watch as the volcano crumbles to nothing, leaving a small sapling oak tree.<p>

I also notice that the veil shatters like glass, leaving a few raindrops that crackle and turn into flowers as they automatically plant themselves into the ground.

It's beautiful, but slightly terrifying.

Chase cheers and hugs me. "Great job, Mia!" He grins, kissing my forehead gently.

We all share a group hug, and I pull away, placing on the dagger in a scabbard and slipping on the ring.

I feel taller suddenly, like I grew an inch or two. My hair becomes longer and a few shades lighter, down to my lower back, my kaleidoscope eyes shining brightly, my skin tanner and healthier. My friends stare at me, their eyes wide.

I grin, cracking my knuckles and smirking. "Let's go finish this quest."

We all cheer.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

Mia grips our shoulders and we appear at the Davenport's house.

"Guys!" Tasha says, smiling at us and wrapping Mia, Adam and I in a hug, and she pats Marcus's shoulder. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Okay isn't really what we're feeling right now." I mumble, and Tasha just nods.

"Mia, how long do you have left to live?"

She swallows heavily, and I see a fleet of pain and panic cross her blue eyes.

"Well?" Asks Leo.

"One hour and twenty three minutes."

My eyes grow wide. "Son of a-"

Mia cuts me off. "I know, Chase. I know."

"Hey, Mrs. Davenport, where's Mr. Davenport?" Marcus asks, looking around.

It goes silent, and Adam frowns. "What's the matter?"

Leo and Tasha share a look and turn back to us. "He…He was captured by Douglas."

We just stare at them. "What?"

"He was captured by Douglas." They repeat.

"When?" Marcus asks, frowning deeply.

"A few hours ago."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Yes." Leo says, "He's with Douglas in his lab."

I curse loudly. "Guys, we need to go. Now."

Adam drops down to the floor, sighing heavily. "I just want to sleep."

"We have to go save Davenport, though." Marcus says, as if it's the most obvious thing the world.

Adam jumps up. "Right. Time to go."

Marcus grins. "There we go. There's the old Adam we know."

We cheer, and head out the door, my only thoughts are of getting Davenport back, saving Mia, and killing Douglas.

"You guys ready?" I ask, standing at the door to Marcus's lab.

Mia takes a deep breath, glaring at the side of the house where the secret entrance to the lab is, a million thoughts flashing across her eyes. "I hate this."

I take her hand, looking into her eyes. She doesn't look into my eyes directly, and that bothers me. "I know you do, babe, but we have to save your life."

"I'd rather just die." She mutters.

Adam shakes his head. "We've literally just completed the quest, Mia. We've come too far too stop now."

Mia sighs. "Fine, I can live with that. But I will bear the shame of this murder forever."

"So will we." Marcus says grimly.

All the sudden, the hidden door opens. We all get into a fighting stance.

Out the door comes a sixteen year old kid, smirking, leaning against the archway, staring at us with hard, bright green eyes.

He's a spitting image of Marcus, minus the brown eyes. Instead, he has bright green eyes.

The boy's eyes shift to Marcus, and his smirk grows wider.

"Who are you?" Marcus demands, his eyes flicking green as a warning.

"Oh." He says in a light voice, "did Creator not tell you about me? I'm slightly offended." The boy's eyes flicker black, and a laser beam shoots into the trees, and black fire spreads. Mia's eyes grow wide and she makes a raincloud to get rid of the black fire.

Huh. Black fire. Scary.

The boy claps his hands sarcastically, smirking. "Good job on putting that fire out."

He chuckles evilly, like a true villain would, turning to Marcus, and his smirk (which is quickly growing annoying,) gets wider.

"Who are you?" Marcus demands, glaring at the boy.

The boy chuckles. "Marcus, I'm your brother."

Marcus frowns slightly, taking a step back in confusion and alarm. "I don't have any brothers."

The boy grins. "Well, now you do, big brother."

Marcus's eyes narrow to slits, like a cats would. "What is your name?"

"Robert."

Marcus curses, and Robert steps next to him, smirking yet again. They stand next to each other, and I have a hard time telling them apart.

Adam stares at the two. "So, you're the replacement of Marcus?"

Robert shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest, the smirk still on his face. "Well, I wouldn't call it a replacement. Try…Temporary android. Creator made me since you've…Gone missing. But now since your back…You and Mia are coming home. Your real home, where you belong."

"Yeah, okay, Robert," Marcus says sarcastically, stepping away from him and next to us, his eyes smoldering with sarcasm and rage, "because that's going to happen."

Mia finally speaks up after her shock wears off. "You're not going to take me anywhere."

"Oh," Robert smirks, running up to her with his own super speed, "I think I am. Creator's orders."

"Well," Marcus says calmly, a smirk of his own on his tanned face, and now I really have a hard time telling them apart, "tell Creator to go jump off a cliff into a steel vault in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

If the comment bothers Robert, he doesn't show it. "Mia, you are coming with me."

Mia blinks, and a small bolt of lightning blazes across her skin, making Robert's hair on the back of his neck stand up on end. "No."

"Yes." He insists, stepping in front of her.

"No."

"You are."

Mia smirks. "Beat me with a wire hanger answer's still no."

Robert smirks in turn. "I thought you might say that."

Before any of us can react, he stuns Adam, Marcus and I with his plasma grenades, and I feel like the world just exploded in my face.

Through the intense white hot light, I can barely see Mia, whose dazed slightly. Robert throws another grenade in our direction. The light gets way too intense I have to shut my eyes so my eyes don't melt out of my sockets.

When the light clears after five or six minutes, Mia's not there.

"Mia?" I ask, my eyes wide.

Adam curses. "We need to go, now."

At the same time, we run into the lab.


	15. Chapter 16

I click my watch on, and it flashes 3 hours and 15 minutes, signaling how much time we have to find the ring and the dagger, and how much time I have left to live.

"Okay, so, does anyone have any idea where we are?" Adam asks, taking in his surroundings.

I do a mental scan, and I see that we're in a little town called Lorain, Ohio, population 70,286 people as of this very millisecond, actually.

"Lorain, Ohio." I answer, then begin to walk.

"Okay, how long do you think it'll take us to get there?" Adam asks, scratching his head, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"A few minutes. It's 56,983 miles away, on the other side of the state, hidden by mortal view. But now, since I have Death's permission, we can get there easily."

"Well, how are we- Oh." Adam finishes his own sentence.

Marcus and I share a grin.

* * *

><p>It takes exactly two minutes to reach the entrance to the hidden volcano.<p>

* * *

><p>"Okay. Let me go in first." I say, blinking.<p>

Marcus starts to protest, but I cut him off.

"I'd rather go." I say, pressing my hand to Marcus's chest as a means to stop him.

"I'll go in first, since I'm qualified."

I take a deep breath, steeling myself for the sure intense heat sure to come. I glance at my friends for a few seconds, and they nod, stepping back. Chase looks hesitate, but I nod at him firmly again.

I walk into the secret entrance without another word.

* * *

><p>It's dark, and hot. Well, obviously, because I'm inside a volcano mine shaft. I still don't know how there's a mine shaft in here, because the volcano is hidden by humans view, but I ignore it. I can survive heat up to five thousand degrees, so I'm not even breaking a sweat.<p>

I can hear Adam, Marcus and Chase enter behind me, nervously looking back.

The spot where we entered is still there, surrounded by a thin ring of magic. I step in and out of it, and I come back in after making sure that Death still made it there. It's there, thank God.

I catch up with my friends.

"Whoa." Adam says, his eyes wide. "What is this place?"

"We're inside a volcano, Adam." Marcus answers, scowling slightly. "You didn't know that?"

Adam scoffs. "I knew that." He looks at the mine walls, that are dark red, obviously.

We walk for a few minutes before I hear Chase call from up ahead of us.

He got so excited, he ran ahead of us. Marcus told him not to go far, and he listened. Chase listening to Marcus is a new one. Usually, they'd be trying to tear each other apart, but I don't think that's the case. If anything, Chase and Marcus are reestablishing their friendship.

Well, as close as a friendship will ever be between these two.

"Hey, guys, look at this!" Chase says, pointing to a mine cart. I sprit over to it, and I see one of those old mine shafts, where it's just one rail track, surrounded by a large cave/cavern. The box is metal and wood, with two benches, big enough for all of us.

"It's large enough for four of us." Adam says.

Marcus eyes it nervously. "Is it safe?"

I nod, hearing Death's voice in my head, telling me that it's completely safe.

"How do you know?" Marcus asks.

"Death told me."

Nobody says how odd that is. I'm trusting _Death_ of all people. Things. Supernatural beings. Whatever.

Chase shrugs. "Okay. Good enough for me."

Marcus and Adam hop into the cart, Adam helping me in. Chase frowns. "Mia-"

"Come on, Chase!" I say, patting the seat next to me.

He hesitates. "Fine. I'll push the cart with my molecularkenisis."

He hops in, gets settled in, and holds out his hand. The cart squeaks slightly as the wheels start moving.

"Just like a roller coaster." Chase mutters.

"Yeah," Marcus agrees shakily, "minus the seat belts, safety harnesses, attendants, and making sure everything is in tip top shape. Yeah, just like that."

Adam nods grimly, his knuckles clenched in tight fists. "And, we're running out of time."

"Guys," I say, "we'll be fine."

"Yeah, because you trust Death." Adam says, his brown eyes alarmed. "_Death_ of all people. I'd be careful."

Chase starts moving the cart forward. Marcus grips the sides of the cart so hard his knuckles turn white. "We're going to die!"

"No, we're not!" I answer firmly.

The cart skids to a stop, stopping at the top of the hill. I see how the track is a rather thick line, about seven or eight inches thick, and the open air, and I see how the air is trapped, clattering around the cave's walls.

I suck in a deep breath. "You guys ready?"

"Y-Yeah." Marcus mutters, his usually tanned face pale, "we're ready."

Chase takes a deep breath, and pushes the cart forward.

* * *

><p>Have you ever felt like you're floating up in the air? And I don't mean in the love at first sight kind of way, either. Like you're actually, physically floating, you're body weighing nothing like you're in space kind of deal.<p>

I've done it before.

And it's absolutely terrifying.

Adam shouts in fear and stutters out a curse as the cart tilts to the side, but Marcus, Chase and I stop it with our telekinesis, our breathing heavy from the heat of the volcano and the effort to stop this cart from falling into an ocean of lava and pain.

"Guys," Marcus yells to be heard over the wind, "the track-"

"The track what?" Chase demands.

"The track has a gap in it!"

"WHAT?!" Adam yells, his eyes wide with fear.

"Brace for impact!" I yell, wrapping my friends up with my wings, that are as hard as a diamond.

A fireball the size of an orange flickers past my eyes, but I take it out with my ice vision.

The cart flies off the tracks.

* * *

><p>For a minute or two, I feel weightless, and then a loud crack, signaling we're back on the rails. Another ear slipping crack and I turn to see that the rest of the track has been smashed to pieces by a spew of lava that rose up from the ground.<p>

No going back now.

Adam breathes in and out. "Is everyone… Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah. We're okay." Marcus says, taking in a shaky breath.

We ride for a few seconds before I hear Death's voice in my head, and my eyes grow wide as I understand what he means.

The wind whips my hair, stinging my cheeks and eyes as I turn to my friends. I have to shout to talk to them over the wind. "Guys, Death says that the track will end. If we jump at the correct time, we can safely make it onto the ground."

"What happens if we don't?" Chase asks.

I hesitate as I look at my boyfriend, then Adam and Marcus's eyes. I see the fear in their eyes. "Try…Try to time it right."

"That's reassuring." Marcus mutters, exhaling shakily.

I grip my friends hands, Marcus's hand going on my shoulder.

"Ready?"

"_Oh Jesus_." Adam whispers, shutting his eyes, then reopening them. "Yeah, we are."

"Three…Two…One…Jump now!" We all do at the same time, rolling onto the dark gravel ground.

I groan, blinking away white, buzzy spots from my vision. Adam, Marcus and Chase look dazed and sick. I must look like them.

We sit there in silence for a few seconds, trying to catch our breath and wait for the world to stop tiliting like someone just spun us around too fast. I fight down a small wave of nausea and focus on not passing out.

I take a deep breath to try and steel my nerves again.

Chase breaks the silence "Okay, s-so where's the dagger and the ring?"

I help my friends up before turning to Chase. "Follow me."

We keep on walking deeper into the volcano.

* * *

><p>"How long have we been walking for?" Marcus asks, a bead of sweat tumbling down his neck. He wipes it away in annoyance.<p>

"I don't know. A few minutes, maybe." Chase answers.

"It's hot and my feet hurt." Adam complains, and Marcus scowls. "No, really? I never would have guessed it was _hot_ in a _volcano_."

Adam shoots him a glare. "Why don't you shut up?"

"Why don't you become smarter?" Marcus counters.

"Why are you so mean?"

"Because you're dumb."

"That wasn't even an insult!"

"At least I can think of an insult! All you can come up with are short jokes!"

"Hey!" Chase protests, but Adam and Marcus ignore him.

"Okay, you know what-"

"Guys!" I yell, ignoring the short comment that was directed at Chase.

"What are you, three years old?" Chase demands.

"Try asking Adam that." Marcus mutters, and Adam rolls his eyes.

"Why do I feel like we're watching over children?" I ask.

"Because they are." Chase smirks.

"Hey!" Marcus and Adam protest, and Chase and I chuckle.

"It's true, though." I say, poking Marcus's cheek lightly.

Marcus glares playfully at me, rolling his eyes as he keeps walking, occasionally wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Guys, Death says we're getting close." As soon as I say this, dread washes over me.

Oh boy.

* * *

><p>I begin to think things over truly, not shoving the dark thoughts into the back of my mind like I usually do.<p>

What's the point in living? I'm already dead. If we don't succeed in getting this ring and this dagger, I can kiss my life goodbye.

It takes me a minute to realize something. I don't know why I hadn't realized this before. Maybe it's because I pushed the thoughts in the back of my mind. I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I can see everything so clearly now.

There's a difference between giving up, and knowing when you've had enough. I'm not giving up. I'm letting go of myself. I can't be here anymore. I can't face the days without feeling pain. It's hard enough to be here for even one more second. I don't want to be here anymore. It doesn't feel like it's worth it.

People don't understand. People think depression is sadness. People think depression is crying. People think depression is dressing in black. People are wrong. Depression is the constant feeling of being numb. Being numb to emotions, being numb to lie. You wake up in the morning just to go back to bed again. Days aren't really days; they're just annoying obstacles that need to be faced. And how do you face them? Through medication, through drinking, through smoking, through drugs, through cutting. When you're depressed, you grasp onto anything that can get you through the day. That's what depression is, not sadness or tears or these strange mood swings, it's the overwhelming sense of numbness, and the desire for anything that can help you make it from one second to the next. Grasping onto something that takes the pain away is easy to do.

But sometimes it isn't easy, and those days are the worst.

"Guys," Chase says warily, his eyes seemingly broken, but alert at the same time. "Whatever you do, do not give into the emotions you are feeling!"

"Death is tapping into our darkest thoughts. Let's just get the ring and get the heck out of here." Adam says, and I nod in agreement, trying to ignore the waves of dread and agony that wash over me.

"Okay. I know where to go." I say, "Follow me."

* * *

><p>We keep on walking until I see the dagger and the ring on a silver pedestal.<p>

The dagger is pure diamond, with an obsidian colored hilt, with a lightning bolt just where the hilt meets the beginning of the blade, with the symbol for water, earth and fire going upwards in a spiral endlessly where it stops at the tip of the dagger. The ring has a small white bow on the top of it, made out of pure diamond that's absolutely beautiful.

"There they are!" Adam says, grinning, about to take off and run over to them, but I stop him.

"No. Let me do it."

Adam opens his mouth to protest, but then closes it. "Fine."

I sprint over to it and grab it, and Death's voice stops in my head.

* * *

><p>When the cave starts to crumble beneath our feet, I, calmly, fly out of there with my friends in tow.<p>

* * *

><p>We watch as the volcano crumbles to nothing, leaving a small sapling oak tree.<p>

I also notice that the veil shatters like glass, leaving a few raindrops that crackle and turn into flowers as they automatically plant themselves into the ground.

It's beautiful, but slightly terrifying.

Chase cheers and hugs me. "Great job, Mia!" He grins, kissing my forehead gently.

We all share a group hug, and I pull away, placing on the dagger in a scabbard and slipping on the ring.

I feel taller suddenly, like I grew an inch or two. My hair becomes longer and a few shades lighter, down to my lower back, my kaleidoscope eyes shining brightly, my skin tanner and healthier. My friends stare at me, their eyes wide.

I grin, cracking my knuckles and smirking. "Let's go finish this quest."

We all cheer.

* * *

><p><strong>Chase's POV<strong>

Mia grips our shoulders and we appear at the Davenport's house.

"Guys!" Tasha says, smiling at us and wrapping Mia, Adam and I in a hug, and she pats Marcus's shoulder. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Okay isn't really what we're feeling right now." I mumble, and Tasha just nods.

"Mia, how long do you have left to live?"

She swallows heavily, and I see a fleet of pain and panic cross her blue eyes.

"Well?" Asks Leo.

"One hour and twenty three minutes."

My eyes grow wide. "Son of a-"

Mia cuts me off. "I know, Chase. I know."

"Hey, Mrs. Davenport, where's Mr. Davenport?" Marcus asks, looking around.

It goes silent, and Adam frowns. "What's the matter?"

Leo and Tasha share a look and turn back to us. "He…He was captured by Douglas."

We just stare at them. "What?"

"He was captured by Douglas." They repeat.

"When?" Marcus asks, frowning deeply.

"A few hours ago."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Yes." Leo says, "He's with Douglas in his lab."

I curse loudly. "Guys, we need to go. Now."

Adam drops down to the floor, sighing heavily. "I just want to sleep."

"We have to go save Davenport, though." Marcus says, as if it's the most obvious thing the world.

Adam jumps up. "Right. Time to go."

Marcus grins. "There we go. There's the old Adam we know."

We cheer, and head out the door, my only thoughts are of getting Davenport back, saving Mia, and killing Douglas.

"You guys ready?" I ask, standing at the door to Marcus's lab.

Mia takes a deep breath, glaring at the side of the house where the secret entrance to the lab is, a million thoughts flashing across her eyes. "I hate this."

I take her hand, looking into her eyes. She doesn't look into my eyes directly, and that bothers me. "I know you do, babe, but we have to save your life."

"I'd rather just die." She mutters.

Adam shakes his head. "We've literally just completed the quest, Mia. We've come too far too stop now."

Mia sighs. "Fine, I can live with that. But I will bear the shame of this murder forever."

"So will we." Marcus says grimly.

All the sudden, the hidden door opens. We all get into a fighting stance.

Out the door comes a sixteen year old kid, smirking, leaning against the archway, staring at us with hard, bright green eyes.

He's a spitting image of Marcus, minus the brown eyes. Instead, he has bright green eyes.

The boy's eyes shift to Marcus, and his smirk grows wider.

"Who are you?" Marcus demands, his eyes flicking green as a warning.

"Oh." He says in a light voice, "did Creator not tell you about me? I'm slightly offended." The boy's eyes flicker black, and a laser beam shoots into the trees, and black fire spreads. Mia's eyes grow wide and she makes a raincloud to get rid of the black fire.

Huh. Black fire. Scary.

The boy claps his hands sarcastically, smirking. "Good job on putting that fire out."

He chuckles evilly, like a true villain would, turning to Marcus, and his smirk (which is quickly growing annoying,) gets wider.

"Who are you?" Marcus demands, glaring at the boy.

The boy chuckles. "Marcus, I'm your brother."

Marcus frowns slightly, taking a step back in confusion and alarm. "I don't have any brothers."

The boy grins. "Well, now you do, big brother."

Marcus's eyes narrow to slits, like a cats would. "What is your name?"

"Robert."

Marcus curses, and Robert steps next to him, smirking yet again. They stand next to each other, and I have a hard time telling them apart.

Adam stares at the two. "So, you're the replacement of Marcus?"

Robert shrugs, crossing his arms over his chest, the smirk still on his face. "Well, I wouldn't call it a replacement. Try…Temporary android. Creator made me since you've…Gone missing. But now since your back…You and Mia are coming home. Your real home, where you belong."

"Yeah, okay, Robert," Marcus says sarcastically, stepping away from him and next to us, his eyes smoldering with sarcasm and rage, "because that's going to happen."

Mia finally speaks up after her shock wears off. "You're not going to take me anywhere."

"Oh," Robert smirks, running up to her with his own super speed, "I think I am. Creator's orders."

"Well," Marcus says calmly, a smirk of his own on his tanned face, and now I really have a hard time telling them apart, "tell Creator to go jump off a cliff into a steel vault in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

If the comment bothers Robert, he doesn't show it. "Mia, you are coming with me."

Mia blinks, and a small bolt of lightning blazes across her skin, making Robert's hair on the back of his neck stand up on end. "No."

"Yes." He insists, stepping in front of her.

"No."

"You are."

Mia smirks. "Beat me with a wire hanger answer's still no."

Robert smirks in turn. "I thought you might say that."

Before any of us can react, he stuns Adam, Marcus and I with his plasma grenades, and I feel like the world just exploded in my face.

Through the intense white hot light, I can barely see Mia, whose dazed slightly. Robert throws another grenade in our direction. The light gets way too intense I have to shut my eyes so my eyes don't melt out of my sockets.

When the light clears after five or six minutes, Mia's not there.

"Mia?" I ask, my eyes wide.

Adam curses. "We need to go, now."

At the same time, we run into the lab.


	16. Chapter 17

**Donald's POV**

"So, Donnie, how's life?" My brother asks, standing in front of the anti-bionic cage, designed for Adam, Mia, Marcus and Chase so they can't break out. Also, it's for me, too, so I can't interfere with Douglas.

"Oh, lets see…Bad." I say, sitting on the concrete ground Indian style, feeling defeated.

"It's gonna get even worse." He chuckles, and I glare at him.

All the sudden, someone, who I recognize as Robert, comes into the lab. "Creator, I have news." Robert, Douglas's newest and evilest creation says, grinning smugly.

My brother perks up in his leather seat, his face brightening. "Ooh, mom's dead?"

That's not possible. Mom has been around since the dinosaurs walked the earth. That women will not die anytime soon.

Robert raises an eyebrow in confusion, but shakes his head. "No. I have someone. very special here that will be joining us."

I get a bitter taste in my mouth.

Robert grabs someone's shoulder and Mia stands there, her eyes dazed. I see that she has the ring and the dagger on, but the dagger is disguised as a knife and the ring looks like a regular ring. She must have done this just in case she was to be captured last minute.

She's very smart, always a step ahead of Douglas, and I'm proud to call her my daughter, even though we're not related by blood.

"No…" I breathe, my eyes wide with fear as my heartbeat speeds up. "Don't you dare touch her!"

"What are you going to do about it, Donnie? Not like you can bust out of here. Now, since I have Mia here, no one can stop me!" He laughs evilly, like a complete psycho would, and I can feel my heart sink into the pit of my stomach.

"What about Adam, Marcus and Chase?" I demand, and Douglas smirks. "They won't make it here in time to save her."

"Trust me," I say, confidence swelling up inside me, "they will defeat you."

Douglas smirks. "Not if they don't get here in time."

My eyes grow wide in alarm. "What do you mean?"

Mia speaks up for the first time, her eyes still clouded over from the plasma grenades that Robert probably used in order to stun my family and Marcus. "He means that he made the lab bigger with a labyrinth, traps, and strong, powerful robots/bionics/androids so our friends are stalled while Douglas works on the serum."

I cruse loudly in my head.

I hope that Adam, Marcus and Chase make it in time. Because if they don't…I don't even want to think about it.

_Boys, please hurry…_

* * *

><p><strong>Adam's POV<strong>

"Okay, is it just me or did Evil Uncle Daddy's lab get bigger?" I ask, speed walking along, looking at the walls, that are made of stone. Our feet echo across the granite floors softly.

"Yeah, the lab definitely got bigger." Chase says.

"Mia's running out of time." Marcus says, alarmed. "We need to-"

A loud, scarping noise interrupts him.

"What was that?" Chase asks, wincing as the noise stops. His ears must hurt.

"I don't know, but we should keep going." I say, and once more, a loud boom echoes off the walls.

We whirl around towards the source, and I see the entrance that we came in from is blocked, like it never existed.

I hear a voice, and it sounds like Mia.

Then I hear her scream.

* * *

><p>"MIA!" Chase yells desperately.<p>

"CHASE!" She screams back, and her voice rattles my skull, and I can see tears glisten in Marcus's and Chase's eyes.

"I told you no one could stop us, Donald." That's Douglas's voice!

A girl around the age of fifteen enters through the door, smirking. She has dark red hair and all white eyes, irises and all.

"Chase…" The girl says in Mia's voice. Then the girl throws her head back and laughs.

Chase gets beyond angry. He runs up to the girl, punching her in the stomach and, as the girl is falling, stabs her in the stomach with a knife the size of a loaf of bread.

The girl disappears before our eyes, melting into the floor.

My brother turns back to us, his eyes murderous with red hot rage. "Come on," he says without any emotion, "let's go."

And he walks through the door without another word.

Marcus and I turn to each other, and follow him.

"Hey, do you guys smell something?" Marcus asks warily, and I nod. "Yeah. It smells like- Oh my god." I say, my eyes wide.

"Adam, what's wrong?" Chase asks, noticing how I stopped.

I grab Chase and Marcus's arms. "RUN!"

As soon as I say this, a big vat of molten lava tips from the wall behind us.

"FIRE! RUN, NOW!" Marcus says, gripping our shoulders and super speeding away.

The smoke chocks me, and I have a flashback to the forest fire after we went to get Famine's dagger.

I freeze, my body shutting down on me from the amount of panic I'm feeling right now.

"Adam, come on!" Chase says, worry clear in his voice, but I can barely hear him over the roar of the lava.

* * *

><p><em>The flames lick at my skin lightly through my mission suit. It's warm, but progressively gets hotter, as fire normally does. Then it burns like a hot iron, and I let out a loud scream. Then I see the burning tree hurling towards me at the speed of a rocket. It falls onto me, and I can't breathe. I can't move, or breathe. I can feel my mission suit get tattered from a rock, and the fire licks the exposed skin. I scream even louder.<em>

_I'm going to die._

* * *

><p>"Adam, whatever you're seeing, it's not real! Fight the memories off!" Marcus says, and I can hear him a bit more than Chase.<p>

I start breathing rapidly and heavily, and somewhere in my panic induced mind, a small part of my brain screams at me that I'm having a panic attack, and I need to get out of there as quick as I can.

But I can't focus. The heat, the flames…

"Adam!" Chase yells, and I can feel the fire spread towards me even more. The heat burns, and I feel like I'm about to pass out from lack of oxygen.

A loud crack makes my head whip to the side, and the panic goes away, replaced by a slight stinging sensation.

Marcus sets his hand down at his side.

"What was that for?" I demand, cupping my slightly stinging cheek with my hand and glaring at him.

"You were having a panic attack." He says, then grips my arm. "Come on. Let's not be barbecue."

We super speed away.

"Whoa!" Marcus says after a few seconds of running, the smell of slightly burning rubber filling my nose.

"What's the matter?" Chase asks, alarm filling his voice.

"Trap." He says, pointing upwards.

Chase and I look up.

There's a wooden ceiling, and it looks completely normal, but then I realize it's not.

The oak wood blends in with dark pine spikes, and a pressure plate stands in front of my left foot. I quickly step away from the pressure plate, making sure I don't accidentally step on it, because, well, that would be bad.

Testing the spike/pressure plate contraption out, I grab an orange and an apple from my mission suit (which are both still surprisingly still fresh), and place the apple directly in the middle of the trap and, once I'm over safely to Marcus and Chase, put the orange on the pressure plate.

Almost instantly, the trap's wooden fake ceiling shoots down onto the ground where the apple is, and a loud crunching and horrible squishing noise can be heard.

The trap lifts slowly, and the apple is reduced to smithereens with a whole lot of apple juice spewed everywhere.

"Gross." I mutter, and Marcus looks at the trap, then turns to look at the lava warily.

"Maybe we can make it." Chase says doubtfully, "but how are we going to-"

"Oh, I know what to do." Marcus says, speeding over to the other side with us in tow.

The trap closes behind us loudly with a shudder, and the wind from the force moves my mission suit slightly.

I look back, and the wooden trap is directly behind my face, my nose touching the cold surface.

I turn back to Marcus, an eyebrow arced. "How much time does Mia have?"

"Ten minutes."

I swallow, a long string of curse words flashing across my mind.

We head to the next room.


	17. Chapter 18

**Marcus's POV**

"So, what do you think is next?" Chase asks, and Adam shrugs.

"I'm a bit nervous. Marcus, do you know where we're going?"

"I don't know. This is all new to me. Even I didn't know that Douglas could do this in less than twenty four hours. I can only hope we're going in the right direction."

"God, I hope so too." Chase mutters.

We stand at the door after walking for a few seconds. I take a deep breath, exhaling quietly.

We walk through the door, and it's the lab.

"Mr. Davenport!" I say shocked to see him, and Davenport turns to us, his eyes wide.

"Guys!"

"Are you okay?" Adam asks, his eyes growing wide, and I hear concern in his voice.

"Yeah. What about you?"

I wish I had a father like that. Too bad it's only seven minutes away from my birthday, so I'll never get to know what having a real father is like, not having an insane scientist as a father.

Yes, I, Marcus Davenport, am turning sixteen today.

I will die alongside Creator.

* * *

><p>Douglas turns to us, smirking. "Hello, family."<p>

Then his eyes settle on me. "Marcus?" He sounds generally confused. "What are you doing with them?"

"Let her go, Creator." I say in a steely voice.

He cocks his head to the side slightly, a small glint of sarcasm in his eyes and body language. "Who? You'll have to be more specific."

"Don't be annoying! You know exactly who I'm talking about!"

My Creator's face grows hard. "Right then." He grins, and a small zap emits from a small device, along with a whoosh.

The next time I blink, we're next to Donald in the cage.

"Were you looking for Mia?" Creator asks, smirking. He steps back, and I see Mia bound and gagged, her kaleidoscope eyes still dazed from that plasma grenade.

"Mia!" Chase screams, his eyes wide with fear.

"Hey guys." She mutters, laughing a little bit, like she's not quiet right in her own mind, her eyes swimming in blankness from the grenade. "How's it going?"

"Mia, we're hear to save you!" Adam says desperately.

"I know, but I want to die."

A loud beeping noise interrupts us. "Seven minutes until serum is complete." An automatic female voice says.

"Perfect. Just perfect. Robert!" He snaps his fingers and Robert walks over to Mia, stroking her cheek.

It makes me absolutely sick, watching this happen.

Robert's hand trails down her cheek to her neck, and Mia's eyes grow wide with fear.

"Please don't…" She sounds so scared it breaks my well guarded heart in half. I never knew how much one person could effect me so much.

Mia's face turns unreadable, and a chunk of rock the size of a DVD player smacks Robert in the face.

"Ouch." He mutters. Robert glares at her, and smacks her across the face.

Mia cries out in pain, and Chase yells a curse word that directed at Robert.

Douglas looks genuinely sad about Robert smacking Mia, but I can see right through his facade. Because, looks can be deceiving.

I know how good I am at manipulating people, twist them to do my work. I know how to break them as well.

After all, I've learned from the best.

Creator shakes his head. "I'm sorry, but I have to. In order to take over the world and cause you guys emotional pain, I have to do this."

Not a good reason, sicko.

"Why do you need me?" She demands. "You already have Robert! And apparently a barber with a sense of humor."

Creator ignores the last comment and glances over at Robert, and then he looks at me with cold eyes. "Robert is just an android. Trouble with android's are, that they burn out too quick. Just like Marcus here, who will die in six minutes."

* * *

><p>It feels like a grenade just dropped in front of my allies, silence echoing around the room.<p>

There's no going back now, no use in trying to hide it. No, I can't cause my allies this kind of pain. Not while Mia's life is on the line. If she dies, they'd be crushed. If I die, there would be no grieving, not a single tear shed.

I have to lie.

Adam finally breaks the silence. "What?" He asks, his eyes wide. Then he turns to me, and I try not to flinch at his scared, confused gaze. "Marcus," he asks in a uncontrolled but still slightly steely voice, "what is he talking about?"

"Nothing." I say, trying to hide the fear I have. "He's lying."

Mia doesn't say anything, she just looks down at the ground.

A laugh cuts through the silence, and we turn to Robert. I honestly forgot he was there. Oh well. He can go fall into a pit of quicksand. Actually, I'll go find one and shove him in. Oh. Yeah. That sounds good.

"And you wonder why Creator created me." Robert smirks. "He made me to age just like a normal human."

"H-How?" I stutter out, my eyes wide.

"Yes, he's an android, but I also made another program, another devise, that makes him live over the age of sixteen." Creator explains.

"It's a shame," Robert smirks turning to me, "that you won't live until the age of sixteen."

"Shut up." I snap, and my 'brother's' smirk grows wider.

"Marcus…Is what Douglas said true?" Donald asks, gently, as if not to set anyone off.

I hang my head in shame. "Yes," I barely whisper, "It is."

"Well, Robert and I will leave you five to say your final goodbyes." Creator (Although, I'm not going to call him that anymore. I've bonded with Donald more than I have with my own Creator in the last twenty four hours than I have with Creator in the fifteen years I've been alive.) takes the gag and the ropes off of Mia, and gets rid of the cage that we're in with a push of a button.

Mia stands up and immediately runs over to Chase, sobbing into his chest as her arms wrap around him. She turns to me, sobs racking her body.

"Marcus, h-how could you n-not tell m-me that you are going to d-die?" She asks, full out bawling, walking up to me and hugging me.

I look down in shame. "Sorry. It's just that with everything going on-"

"SO YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HOW YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IN FIVE MINUTES?!" She screams, and a stream of lightning arks from her palm, frying an electrical board that was used as Douglas's television.

I wince. "I'm sorry, Mia."

She hits my arm repeatedly, and Adam puts an arm on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. She shrugs him off, and sobs into my chest. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and she buries her face into the crook of my neck.

"I hate you." She breathes, a tear tracing down her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Mia." I say again.

"Sorry doesn't cut it." She says, sniffling.

Donald meets all of our eyes. "Listen to me, guys. I know you guys can do this. Leo, Tasha, Eddy and I have faith in you."

We look at him gratefully, a small smile ghosting across Adam's lips. "Thanks, Davenport."

Adam and Donald talk quietly for two or three minutes, and I join in, giving Mia and Chase some privacy.

Their final goodbyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

Chase hugs me tightly, his eyes swimming with tears. "Mia, we still can fight this. We still can kill Douglas."

I stare at him disbelievingly. "Why aren't you letting me go?"

"I don't want to let you go."

"Well, now would be a good time to try."

I begin to turn away, but he grabs my arm, and I stop, not turning back to look at him.

"You don't understand. I can't. I love you too much."

I turn to him, with soft, sad, bright blue eyes. "See? That's your problem, Chase."

He blinks, confused. "What are you talking about?"

I sigh. "You don't want to be alone. You love me too much to let me go, and when you think about it, you know how much I don't want to be saved, and that makes you angry, so instead, you pour that anger into denial, and you say how much you want me to be here, but I just can't take it anymore. I just want you to let me go."

He doesn't say anything, because he knows how right I am.

So, instead, he cups my face with his hands, rubbing my cheekbone softly, and I smile sadly at him.

He kisses me, and I immediately respond. I wrap my arms around his neck tightly, shutting my eyes. I don't kiss him back, I just let him kiss me, letting him explain what he can't in words with a kiss.

I pull away first, not meeting his eyes.

We all turn as I see Douglas come in, Robert stand right next to him.

"Well," he grins, and I begin to shake with fear, "shall we get started?"

* * *

><p>Douglas types in a key code, and the anti-bionic cage springs up again, and Robert shoves my friends and Davenport into the ring, and the electric blue bars circle around my friends, trapping them.<p>

"No!" Adam yells, "Mia!"

"Adam!" I say, my heartbeat speeding up.

Douglas smirks. "Well Mia…Any last words?"

I'm trembling with fear, and I don't think I can say anything. I take a deep, shaky breath, and I look at my friends.

I only say eleven words.

"I'm so sorry that this is happening. I love you all."

Chase automatically goes ballistic, yelling threats about how he's going to rip Douglas's head off and soccer kick it off a roof before cutting his head up into little strips, like paper, and burying each strip under cement then going on a boat and letting it sink to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, never to be seen again.

It takes all three of them to hold him back.

"Marcus-"

He looks over at me with tears in his eyes.

I look over at Douglas, sending him a message, and he lets me get up.

I walk over to Marcus, and wrap my arms around him. "Marcus, I'll see you in Heaven." I whisper, pulling away.

I turn to my father.

"Donald, I'm glad I got to stay with you and watch Leo grow up. I'm proud to call you my father."

Donald has tears in his eyes.

"Adam, you're the bestest friend a girl could ask for. Remember, keep your head high, and don't insult Chase anymore, okay? I know you can have your dull moments, but I know that there's a very intelligent man in there somewhere. Don't be afraid to speak up, even when you think it's dumb. You're my best friend, and I won't forget you. Whatever I say when 'I' wake up, remember that it's not me. It's Douglas. It's going to hurt, but channel that hurt into anger at Douglas. It'll make you feel a little bit better."

I look over at Adam, and I hug him, and he hugs me back.

I smile warmly at Chase. "Chase, I love you. No matter what happens to us-"

"It was worth it." Chase finishes, sobbing.

I hug him, sending warm, happy thoughts to my friends and Marcus, something to remember me by.

Chase grips my arm as I'm about to pull away.

He crashes his lips onto mine, and I can feel Chase's hot tears on my face.

We kiss for a few more seconds, and I pull away.

Then I turn to Douglas.

"Okay," I say, sitting back down and brushing my hair out of my face, "I'm ready."

"Serum complete." The automatic female voice says. Douglas smiles evilly.

He grabs a syringe from a stainless steel tray, and grins. He walks back over to me.

He plunges the needle into my neck.

'I'm sorry.' I say to them in my head softly.

And everything goes black.


	18. Chapter 19

**Adam's POV**

Mia immediately goes limp, and it feels like I can't breathe. My throat closes up, cutting off my air. My brown eyes are wide, and my lungs burn from not being able to take in oxygen properly.

She looks so much more smaller, so much more paler, so much more vulnerable, so much more frailer, lifeless.

I can't tell if she's dead or alive.

* * *

><p>The only sound in the room is Douglas laughing insanely.<p>

* * *

><p>Chase starts breathing heavily, trying to break out of the cage without killing himself in the process.<p>

"Is it working?" Robert asks, looking down at her with those hard green eyes.

"It's going through her bloodstream, counteracting her thoughts, making her give up hope on trying to fight the serum. It will work in about three seconds."

Right on cue, Mia gasps and sits up quickly, coughing.

"Mia?" Robert asks softly.

If this cage isn't here, I'd gladly burn two holes in the back of his head.

"Yeah?" She asks, her blue eyes lifeless.

"How do you feel?"

"I feel…" She pauses, "Good."

"Mia? Do you feel different?" Douglas asks, and she nods.

"Yeah. But in a good way. I feel very…Powerful. Why?"

"The serum is working it's way into your bloodstream." Robert says, and she nods, her eyes looking glazed over.

"Mia, send Donald home."

"Okay." She does just that with a wave of her hand, then she looks over at us momentarily, drinking us in, then turns to Douglas.

"Creator, you captured them? Why?"

I will never get used to Mia calling Douglas 'Creator'. Nope.

"Mia, do you know who we are?" Marcus asks, and Mia nods.

"Yeah, I know you. You're them."

Chase frowns. "Who?"

"The enemy." She replies smoothly.

"We are not the enemy." I say, and Mia glares at me.

"I'm not so sure." She says calmly.

I blink in shock at how angry, how calm, and how dead she sounds. "Mia, you need to fight whatever you're feeling!"

"Who says anything about feeling anything?" She asks dully.

Then she mocks me in my voice. "Yeah, hi, everybody, my name is Adam Davenport. I'm strong, in fact, the strongest person on earth, and I'm as bright as a box of rocks! Oh, did I also mention that I can break someone's neck with a squeeze of my hand? Yep, I can do that! I almost killed a nineteen year who made me mad!"

I wince from the memory. The teenager, whose name was Patrick, got me mad because he threatened to hurt me and my family, and I glitched, and before I knew it, I was on top of him and forcing the air out of his lungs, nothing in my mind except rage and the thought of killing the poor boy, whose now scared and wary of people for life.

The memory hurts. I thought we'd all forgotten that.

That hurts. But I do what Mia tells me to, and I redirect that hurt to Douglas.

She was right. It makes me feel a lot better.

Then she smirks at Chase. "I have something to say."

"What is it?" He asks, and I expect the worse.

"I wish I had never met you, Chase. Then there would be no need to impress you, no need to want you, no need for loving you, no need for crying over you, no need for heartbreaks, no need for pain or tears, no dreams or nightmares about you, no empty words, no more 'always', no need for crying myself to sleep, no need for acting like you care, and no need for everything you've done to make me feel like absolutely nothing. I don't miss or dare DREAM of the future I could've had with you. I don't love you. I never did. There is no always. There never was."

Chase flinches, and pain flickers across his eyes. I can tell that hurt badly. Even though what Mia said, to not listen to the words coming out of her mouth, and to redirect that anger to Douglas, that doesn't make it any less painful to hear the words.

She looks over at Marcus, her eyes unreadable.

"No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one's life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins. I forgive you for all that you've done, Marcus." She says calmly, and smiles at him, then steps back.

Her eyes flicker light brown. "Creator? We've tortured them emotionally for a while now. I think it's time we let them go."

Douglas frowns. "No. I want them to stay here."

Mia glares at him, and a red lightning bolt crashes down next to him, making his leather jacket turn to dust.

"Three released bionic super humans coming up." He squeaks, typing in something, and the cage is gone.

The cage falls down with a soft thud, and Mia walks over to Robert.

"Creator, I'm feeling conflicted." Mia says, her eyes becoming unsettled.

"Why?" He asks.

"Because this body does not want me to kill her friends. She cares too much about them. I was hoping it might be a glitch that you could fix."

"Guys, Mia's still fighting the serum." Marcus whispers. I turn to him, and I cry out in alarm when I see him.

"Marcus, you're turning very pale." I say, alarmed.

He grimaces. "I know. I'm dying soon."

"In about four minutes." Mia says helpfully. She blinks, then turns to Douglas.

"Creator, this body wants Robert to die."

"Understandable." I mutter, and a hint of a smirk flashes across her face. But as soon as it slips across her face, it's gone. Her face is hard again.

"Well, then, how about we give her something to make those feelings heightened."

I frown. What could he possibly do to make Mia's, the real Mia, not this fake version of her, frustrations amplify?

"Robert." Douglas says, nudging his head toward Mia.

Mia's eyes grow wide. "No. I'm not doing that, you neglectful sociopath. No. You cannot make me." For a minute it sounds like Mia is back, but then her eyes grow hard.

"You will." Robert smirks with charmspeak, and Mia shakes her head again.

"N-No." She freezes. "I won't…" She trails off, her eyes glazed over.

Robert's smirk grows wider, and he moves over to her, his hands going to her shoulders.

Mia takes a step back until her back hits the wall.

Marcus, Chase and I watch in disgust and anger as Robert's lips press to hers, and Mia freezes all together, her eyes wide with fear as a tear snakes down her cheek.

"N-No. Stop." She whispers, pulling away and trying to sink into the wall.

Chase starts to breathe rapidly, and Marcus and I look at each other in alarm.

Chase must be letting Spike take over.

Marcus grabs my arm and super speeds us a safe distance away from Chase in case he turns way too violent.

Robert, completely unaware of what's happening to Chase, smirks and presses his body against Mia's, and Mia's hands spark with lightning. "Stop it. I don't like you."

"No," he agrees, "you love me."

His lips travel to her neck, and Chase's fists clench together tightly.

He straightens suddenly, and I cruse under my breath.

"Marcus, Spike's here." I whisper to him, and Marcus sighs melodramatically.

"Yay." He mutters, and I already have a feeling I know how this is going to end.

"Hey!" Spike yells, and Robert turns to him smugly. "What do you want?"

Not a good idea, Robert, to be arrogant in Spike's presence. Not unless you want to get thrown into a boiling pit of acid by a doll-bodied man with a train wreck haircut.

I really shouldn't be making fun of him right now, considering our delicate circumstance that could change in two seconds, reshaping Mia's fate, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. It's also a force of habit to make fun of my little brother.

"Nobody touches MY girlfriend! I'm going to rip your head off and feed it to a shark and then boil it in acid!" He snarls.

Oh shoot.

Robert smirks, then smacks Mia clear across the face with his super strength. She cries out in alarm, then slumps to the floor, not knocked out, but dazed in pain.

That's what makes Chase/Spike snap. He runs up to Robert and pins him down and smacks him hard in the face so hard that he falls to the ground, unconscious.

Chase/Spike smirks, then gently helps Mia up from the ground. She pushes him away and I can tell Chase/Spike is hurt by it. I can see it in his/their eyes.

Douglas is a monster.

Her eyes turn cold. "Thanks."

Spike deactivates, and Chase, not Spike, nods. "You're welcome." He closes his eyes, then turns to Douglas.

"So," he says, "shall we finish this?"

Douglas merely chuckles. "How? Mia's under the serum."

"Maybe so, but we still can defeat you." I say, unsheathing my dagger and glaring at him.

"You can't defeat me."

"Liar." Marcus says, coming over to stand next to us.

Douglas stares at him. "What happened to you?"

"I've changed."

He frowns. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not your son anymore." He says, his face starting to pale even more. There's no life in his eyes at all. It's like I'm looking at a ghost.

And it's scaring me.

Douglas looks upset, but his face turns hard. "So you'd kill me to save this worthless girls life?"

"She is not worthless!" Marcus shouts at him, and I'm surprised at how intensely heated he sounds. "She is beautiful and kind and caring! All you see her as is a toy that you can use and throw away once you're done with her! But you cannot begin to understand what WE ALL see in her, because you're so obsessed with hurting Donald and his family, when they've done NOTHING to you! You're truly insane, a psychopath, a monster! I don't know why it took me so long to realize it, maybe because I was so blinded by revenge, I didn't see that I was working for the wrong side, the enemy!" He yells, glaring at him.

This obviously bothers Douglas, but he turns to Mia instead, rage in his eyes.

"Mia, attack!" Douglas snaps, and Mia nods. "Yes, Creator."

She grabs Marcus with inhuman speed and agility and sandwiches him between her and the wall.

"Mia, you need to fight the serum!" He says, his eyes wide.

It's alarming how weak his voice sounds.

"No. I am happy." She says, her face hard.

"Let Marcus go, Mia." Chase demands, and she looks at Marcus, then at Chase, her eyes wide.

"M-Marcus?" She whispers, guilt flaring across her face. "What did... What did I..." More guilt flashes across her face now. "What did I do to you?"

Marcus shakes his head sadly. "You didn't do anything to me."

"Marcus, I'm so, so sorry. I-" Her face grows hard again, and she sighs. "That's better. Creator, I have something to say."

My gut twists painfully in my stomach. I have a bad feeling about this.

* * *

><p><strong>Mia's POV<strong>

"Yes, Mia?" He asks, and I smirk.

I figured out how to resist the serum, thanks to Davenport lecturing me on how to block the super-soldier serum. All I had to do was think about my family really hard, about why I love them, and how they love me. It was quiet easy, actually. I was surprised.

Poor Douglas. He has no idea that family, friendship, and love is the strongest thing in the world.

I smirk, letting go of Marcus and slowly turning around to face my 'Creator'.

All the sudden, Douglas can't move. He tries to, but he can't. I thought the word hold and directed it at him, and now he's stuck.

Man, I love being an angel with all of these angelic/bionic powers. It's really cool.

"What?" He asks, his eyes wide. "What did you do? Why can't I move?"

I smirk at him, throwing my head back and laugh. "Oh Douglas. Stupid, insane Uncle Douglas."

"Mia, attack them now!"

My smirk grows wider. "I'm not under the serum anymore, stupid."

Chase's eyes grow wide. "Mia, you broke free?"

I nod at my boyfriend. "Yeah. Douglas, you just forgot one small thing."

"Oh yeah?" He asks, trying to be cocky, but I can detect a hint of fear in his voice, "what's that?"

I laugh at him. "You forgot to add a Memory Charm."

I then look at my friends, who unsheathe their daggers. "Guys, now!"

At the same time, we run up to Douglas with blinding speed and stab him.

Chase stabs him in the stomach, Marcus in the back, Adam in the thigh, and I stabbed Douglas in the heart.

"Exterminant!" We all yell at the same time.

Douglas looks at me, laughing insanely. Blood leaks from where we stabbed him with the daggers, and a thin stream of blood trickles out of his mouth. "You think you've won, Mia, Chase, Adam and Marcus? If you think that, you're all weaker than I thought. I will return from the dead, and when I do, you'll all wish you've never been born!"

With that chilling note, Douglas collapses, shutting his eyes.

He doesn't move again.

* * *

><p>It goes silent before Marcus begins breathing heavily.<p>

"Guys-" He faints, and Adam catches him, lifting him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Marcus!" I yell, my eyes wide.

"He's dying." Chase says, his eyes also wide.

Adam nods. "We need to-"

I wave my hand, and we appear in the lab.

"MR. DAVENPORT!" I scream, and Davenport comes running down the stairs into the lab, a bionic chip in his hand.

He must have made it a while ago. Thank goodness.

"Guys, what's wrong?" He demands.

"Marcus. Bionic chip. Now. Dying!" Chase snaps, using short, clipped sentences/words, and Adam carries Marcus to the cyber desk, setting him gently on it.

Mr. Davenport doesn't turn to us, but begins putting antibiotics into his system via a small needle. "Guys, you need to go."

"No." Adam protests, but Mr. Davenport cuts him off with a glare.

And that's when I know Mr. Davenport won't accept it, won't except that defiant word right now. "You guys need to leave, now."

"N-"

I drag my friends upstairs before Chase can finish his sentence.

* * *

><p>"Guys!" Leo says, jumping up from the kitchen table and running over to us, enveloping us into a big hug. "You're okay!"<p>

I nod grimly.

"Where's Marcus?" Tasha asks, and I point to the elevator, signaling to the lab without saying a word.

Leo blinks, and conflicted emotions flash across his face. I ant tell if he's worried or happy or scared or relieved. Maybe all four. "And what about Douglas?"

"Dead." Adam answers in a monotone voice.

Nobody cheers.

"Do you guys want anything to eat?" Tasha asks after a full minute of silence, efficiently changing the subject.

"Oh, yes, please." Chase groans, rubbing his hands together in delight.

"What would you like, Mia?" Mom asks me, and I think about it for a second.

"Ooh, pancakes!" I say.

Tasha laughs gently. "Okay. I'll make it."

Chase kisses my forehead, and I lean against his chest.

"I'm going to change and shower." I say, standing up and kissing Chase's cheek before super speeding up to my room and doing everything I can to make myself human again.

* * *

><p>I walk down the stairs, drying off my hair with the towel to get every drop of water out.<p>

I notice flour and pancake batter strewn across the kitchen table and walls, (basically the whole kitchen), in thin streams or in globs, and I raise an eyebrow as I see Adam and Leo stand over the mess. "What happened here?"

Leo runs up to me, his shirt caked in flour.

"We tried making pancakes." He says.

I blink. Life lesson: Do not let Leo and Adam Davenport make pancakes. It only leads to a messy disaster.

"Where's Tasha?"

"She went to the store to get chocolate chips. We kinda ran out because we made a whole stack of chocolate chip pancakes." Adam says, turning to us.

I take in his appearance, and laugh. He has flour in his hair, and his shirt is covered in egg shells with the yoke running down, a bit of pancake batter splattered across his face like Owen, my friend, had thrown some of it at his face with an artist's hands.

"What about Chase?"

"He's up on the roof." Leo answers, wiping his cheek, resulting in some flour sticking to his cheek, and I try not to laugh at that.

I go with the 'Where's Chase?' question, my curiosity getting the better of me. "Why?"

"I don't know. I think he wants to be alone." Well, he's not going to be anymore.

"Mia, could you uh…" Adam says, gesturing to the room and to himself. I wave my hand, and everything goes back to the way it was before.

They thank me, and I head up to the roof to go join my boyfriend.


	19. Chapter 20

The stars are shining brightly in the sky, a million of them providing light. A full moon is out, lighting up the sky. It's very warm out, too, about seventy seven degrees.

"Hey." I say, sitting next to him.

"Hi." Chase doesn't turn to me, he just keeps staring at the star filled sky.

"What's wrong, Chase?" I ask, and he shrugs. His eyes reflect the starlight.

"I don't know. I needed to get away from all of-" he gestures down to the house with a nod of his head, "that."

I can see what's bothering him.

"Marcus will be fine, Chase."

He grimaces. "I know he will. But I don't know-"

"Chase." I cut him off with a soft but meaningful look, and he falls silent.

"Do you accept Marcus as family?" I blurt out suddenly after a minute of silence, and Chase turns to look at me.

"I don't know." He answers. "Because of what he did to us, to you, most of all… I don't think I can."

"Well, Douglas is dead. Marcus doesn't like Robert, and visa versa. I know that as a solid fact. That doesn't need to be put under a microscope to be examined. Our friend and ex enemy, Marcus Davenport, feels no physical connection to him, despite the fact that Robert was Douglas's last creation, and Marcus was his first. I don't think that Marcus accepts Robert as his brother. Not truly. Marcus has turned good, and Robert is evil. I think Marcus sees us as family. I mean, we've been more of his family for the past two weeks; we've been caring about him, making sure he's safe. Tasha has been like his mother, and he has never had a motherly figure before, so I guess he's adapting to that. Mr. Davenport has been like his father. Which is more than Douglas had ever been for the last fifteen years."

Chase nods, and wraps his arm around my shoulder. I lean my head on his chest, giggling softly.

"Are you happy?" He asks.

I shrug. "I honestly don't know. I'm glad that the quest is over, that Douglas is dead, that we're all alive, but I feel very guilty at what I did to him. How I killed him."

My boyfriend digests this. It stays quiet for a few seconds before Chase finally answers.

"I know. I can't help but wonder why he tried to kill you."

I shrug. "Who knows? But I'd rather not think of that right now. That's in the past. This, right now, is the present. We'll have plenty of time to scratch our heads about it later, but right now I want to live, to be as happy as I can possibly be."

Chase doesn't say anything, he just kisses my forehead.

I kiss his lips quickly and sit in between his legs, and Chase's arms wrap around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder gently.

We look up at the stars and don't speak a word to each other.

We sit in silence.

* * *

><p>I must have fallen asleep, because Chase gently shakes me awake. "Mia?" He whispers, "Come on, babe, it's time to go inside."<p>

I yawn, stretching. "Okay." I'm still sleepy, but I automatically walk to the living room.

I hear the elevator doors open an hour later, and I see Mr. Davenport stand there.

Suddenly I'm not tired.

"Big D! How-"

"How is he?" Adam asks before Leo can finish, gripping my shoulder as if steeling himself and preventing me from knocking Davenport over and speeding down to the lab.

"Come on down."

We all pile into the elevator, and I'm suddenly nervous. Adam picks this up immediately.

"He'll be fine, Mia," Adam says gently, pecking the top of my head in a sisterly manner, and I feel my shoulders relax.

Not a second after elevator doors slide open, I sprint into the lab.

Marcus stands there, leaning against the table, his arms crossed over his chest.

He looks healthier, happier, and his face isn't as hard as it was before. He's wearing regular clothes, and his brand new black mission suit, just like ours, is hanging up on a hanger near the rock wall.

"Hi-"

I don't give him any time to finish, I just hug him, cutting off whatever he was going to say.

Marcus hugs me back, resting his chin on my shoulder and hugging me tighter than before.

It stays silent for a minute or two, before I finally pull away.

"Mia-" he tries to say something, but then white hot, intense anger suddenly courses through my veins.

"WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING, NOT TELLING US ABOUT HOW YOU WERE GOING TO DIE?" I yell at him, my wings flashing out. I growl at him and his nose twitches, and he takes a small breath.

Marcus winces. "I'm sorry, Mia."

"I hate you." I mutter, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him close. We all know that I don't actually mean it.

"Davenport, does Marcus still have all of his abilities?" Adam asks.

Davenport nods, a glint in his eye. "Yeah. Although now he's good."

Chase blinks. "He's good? Does he remember-"

"Everything?" Marcus asks, and Leo nods carefully.

"Yes, I do." He says.

"Why didn't you tell us you were dying, Marcus?" Adam asks, stepping in front of Chase.

"Because I didn't think you'd care." He says sadly, and I look up at him.

"We do care." I say softly, smiling at him. He smiles back gratefully.

I turn toward my friends, a smirk on my lips. "What? Don't just stand there! Come on, group hug!"

Everyone piles in, hugging each other.

Tasha steps out of the tangle of bodies and limbs and smiles, and she smiles at us.

"Come on guys, let's go eat something. You hungry?" She says, and the boys grin.

"Yeah." Adam says, and Leo laughs, his eyes light.

I look at Chase, and I look at him meaningfully, and he nods, understanding.

"You guys go on ahead. We'll be up in a minute." He says.

"Okay, we'll see you in a minute."

They leave, and I wrap my arms around Chase's neck, smiling at him. "I love you." I say, and Chase smiles at me warmly.

"I love you too."

Chase leans down and kisses me softly.

I pull away first, grinning at him as I take his hand in mine. "Chase, no matter what happens to us in the future, I will always be yours."

"And I'll always be yours." Chase smiles, and his arm wraps around my waist.

We walk to the elevator, ready to join our family.

* * *

><p><em>I can't believe I fell for my best friend. It all started when Marcus did… things to me, an insane scientist who wanted to make a BionicNemphlim race, a quest for eight very important objects, a syringe with black serum in it, sacrifices, love, trust, and family._

_I'm really glad I got the opportunity to experience that firsthand with my family, minus all of the physical and mental/emotional traumas we experienced during the quest to save my life and save the world, too._

_After all, family, love, trust, loyalty, and friendship are the strongest thing in the world, and nothing can break that bond between family._

* * *

><p><span><strong>END OF THE QUEST.<strong>


End file.
